


Flipped

by messingaround



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Drugs, Love/Hate, Slow Burn, Supernatural - Freeform, Violence, mob
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 46,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21701023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/messingaround/pseuds/messingaround
Summary: Dean Winchester's life was simple before he came into it. He worked, went home and that was it. Now his life is nothing like that. It's full of adventure, money and danger. His life wasn't perfect before, but is it now?Michael Novak is the son of a Mobster. He's next in line for the family business and he takes that seriously. That and just about everything else. Dean is a mechanic who is loyal to a fault. The two have no business being in each other lives. That is until Dean becomes apart of the family business.
Relationships: Michael/Dean Winchester
Comments: 120
Kudos: 124





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's back, back again, Mess is back, tell a friend!
> 
> Hello lovely readers! I know it's been, well a couple of years, but I'm back and so happy to be. I was going to wait to post this until I had some more chapters ready to go but I just can't wait anymore. I've been slowly getting back into writing and I'm pretty excited about this fic. Let me know what you think of it so far and if you're excited for the next chapter. I love you all and hope you're as happy to see me back as I am to be back  
> Love,  
> Mess

They say the best place to start a story is from the beginning. Dean doesn’t really know when this all started. Maybe that should be obvious. The story starts the moment when your life completely changed. The second that he walked in and flipped everything upside down. Maybe that's where the story should start.

It should be noted that Dean’s life wasn’t perfect before   
_  
he  
_  
came into it. Far from it actually. Now though, now his life is incredibly different from what it was. He wouldn’t call his life perfect now, but maybe perfection doesn’t exist. 

~~~~~

Dean tightens the oil cap back on then wipes his hands on his rag. He looks around the garage. The late afternoon sun is filtering in through the grimy windows. There’s at least six fans running. It does nothing to compete with the California heat. The garage isn’t much. There’s enough room to work on about four cars at once and only eight guys work for the place. Tony, the owner, is a good guy. He lets everyone make their own schedule and pays a fair price. While it’s not much Dean likes it. He gets to do the only thing he’s good at and get paid for it by a guy who isn’t a total asshole. He glances at the clock on the wall and sees it’s four. Time to clock out and head home to his unairconditioned apartment. He could stay and get some overtime but he’s feeling especially tired today so he decides to clock out and head home. 

He stretches which causes his back to crack. Dean washes his hands then says bye to the rest of the guys. He swings by Tony’s office to say farewell to the graying man, but Tony is at his desk hunched over paperwork and intensely punching away at his calculator. Dean doesn’t want to bother him so he just heads out. On his way back home he stops at his favorite burger place and gets two doubles to go. 

He turns on the tv and settles onto the couch to enjoy his dinner. He flips through the channels for a little bit before settling on a spaghetti western. It’s one that he’s seen many times before. At first he does pay attention but then his mind starts to wander. He starts thinking about everything. Sam comes to mind. He wonders what his baby brother is up to and how he is doing. They haven’t talked in about a year, not since dad went missing. Dean has tried to reach out a few times but to no luck. Once Sam turned eighteen he started to cut Dean out of his line. Now Sam is twenty one and Dean is twenty three. Dean doesn;t let himself think about it too much. Losing Sam was like losing a limb, but he kind of understands why Sam did it. There’s a lot of bad blood in their family and all Dean does is remind Sam of all the darkness. 

He makes himself think of something else. Instead he starts thinking about himself and his life. He takes a long swig from his can of beer and looks around his one bedroom apartment. He doesn’t live on the best side of town. The apartment is, well, it’s dingy. Dean reminds himself that while it’s not much it;s his. It’s not like he hates his life or anything. Sometimes he just wishes he had more, just a little bit more. More people in his life, people that he cared about and ones that cared about him. More money wouldn’t hurt, he doesn’t even want to be rich, but not having to struggle to eat sometimes would be nice. More that he could be proud of. He’s not the smartest though and he’s not good at anything other than fixing cars. He sighs and finishes off his beer. He shouldn’t complain others have it much worse than he does. 

As he falls asleep on the couch a movie he and Sam used to watch as children comes on. He dreams of being a kid and still having his little brother in life, and still having a mother and father. 

~~~~~~

The next day everything goes as always. Until about thirty minutes into his shift Tony comes up to him looking frazzled, sweaty, and has bloodshot eyes. 

“Dean, just the man I’m looking for. I have a special project for you, boy.” 

“Um, okay. I’m not done with the Freeman’s care yet. They are going to be here by two.” 

“Oh no problem. I’ll just have Eddie finish it up. This is more important. You’re the only one I trust with this.” Tony whispers the last part. 

The statement makes Dean feel proud but simultaneously confused. There’s guys at the shop that grew up with Tony. It didn’t make sense to Dean that Tony would trust him more than the men he’s known for over thirty years. Regardless, Dean follows Tony off the shop floor. Tony heads to the back of the shop and out the back door. Which is weird. 

Tony opens the door to the shed that’s always been behind the main shop. Deans only been in it once. It’s not anything special. Just a shed full of old parts, old paperwork, and random junk. He steps into the shed and is slightly taken aback. All of the junk is gone and in its place is a car. It’s not a nice car, but it’s not a junker. Just a regular suburban mom car. 

“Alright, so I need you to take this car apart and then I’m going to have two more that need to be taken apart.”

Dean furrows his brows and watches Tony move nervously around the small room. Tony is scrapping cars. Which makes Dean more confused, because they aren’t a chop shop, they’re a garage. They fix things they don’t destroy them. 

“You’re scrapping cars now?” Dean tries not to sound accusatory, but it’s hard.

“It’s a job for a close friend.” Tony’s tone makes it clear that there will be no discussion about it. 

Dean could say no. He could turn the job down. Tell Tony that this isn’t the job for him and be on his way. Maybe he should. Just forget Tony asked him to scrap three cars. He can’t though. Tony never asks anything of him and if Tony just needs one simple job done for a friend then Dean will do it for him. 

“Alright.” Dean nods then heads back into the shop to grab his tools and then gets to work. 

He trusts Tony. The situation is strange Dean admits but Tony has never lead him astray. Tony is a good man and Dean knows that. It’s a job for a friend. He has no reason to believe anything other than that. Just a job for a friend. 

By the end of the day he gets most of the car taken apart. The car didn’t have any plates. He looks around the yard on his way out. There’s no cars no new cars waiting to be taken apart. 

~~~~

Dean finishes the cars in a week. It’s unremarkable, really. Nothing happens during it or directly after. He takes the cars apart and then life goes on. He goes to work he fixes cars and then he goes home. It’s mundane. 

Then two weeks later Tony comes to him and asks him to take apart some more cars, five this time. Dean does it. It takes a little bit longer than the three but not much.When he finishes the last one he wipes his hands on a rag. He looks around the small shed at all the car parts. Tiny would be involved in some shady shit. He’s a fifty something year old man with a family. He has kids. Tony _wouldn’t_ get into something shady. 

Dean clocks out, but before leaving he decides to stop by Tony’s office. Tony is hunched over paperwork. There’s papers and files everywhere. Tony isn’t necessarily a tidy man but his office looks like a tornado just blew threw. Dean knocks on the door frame. Tony jumps and when he looks at Dean he shoves some papers into a folder. Dean notices. Tony also turns the computer monitor off and turns the calculator he’s using away from Dean. 

“Something ya need, kid?”

Dean frowns slightly and shakes his head. “Nah, I just have a question.”

Tony nods for Dean to go on. “You aren’t in any trouble are you?” 

Tony puffs out a chuckle, it's supposed to sound offended but there’s too much of a nervous edge to it. “Now why the hell would I be in any kind of trouble?” 

“Just asking. You’ve seemed,” Dean takes a second to think of the right word to use, “stressed lately.” 

“Just behind on some paperwork. Nothing to worry about.” 

Dean nods. “Okay, well goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

~~~~

Talk starts happening at the shop. Some of the guys think that the shop is drowning. They think that financially the shop is screwed. A few say they are going to start looking for other jobs soon. A month later when Tony takes away all the overtime all the guys lose it. Everyone starts talking behind Tony’s back. 

“I’m telling you he’s screwed and he ain’t telling us! He’s running out of money and he don’t even have the decency to tell us to start looking for another job.” Johnny snarls while patching up a tire. 

“Haven't y’all known each other since you were kids?” Dean asks. 

“Yeah. How the hell you think I _know_ he’s hiding something! I got a whole family to take care of. I can’t be out of a job because he ain’t telling me that he’s screwed the pooch.” 

Dean stays out of all the talk. Tony’s never done bad by him. Tony saved his life. He took a shot on a kid that come into town only having a car and anger problems. He let him sleep in his pool house while Dean was saving up for an apartment. He helped him create his entire adult life and keep him off the streets. 

He won’t turn on Tony like the rest. Maybe the shop isn’t doing as well as it once was but he’s sure Tony is working on fixing that. He’s not a dumb man, a dumb man couldn’t create an entire business and run it for over thirty years. 

“What’s he been having you do in that old shed?” 

Dean is brought out of his thoughts by the question. He brings his head out of the hood of the car he’s been working on. All the guys are looking at him waiting for any answer. He can’t tell him that he’s been scraping cars on request by Tony. Everyone is already suspicious and hearing that will send some of them over the edge. 

“Just been working a project for one of his friends.” 

“Friend?” Dan snorts the question, “All his friends work here. What friend?” 

“I don’t know. I haven’t met them.” 

“What’s the project?” Bill demands. 

Dean doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t want to lie but he can’t tell the truth. 

“It’s been almost two months of you working on this project,” Bill puts air quotes around project, “so what is this secret project for a secret friend?” 

“Just dealing with some things on a few cars.” 

“How many is a few?” Johnny’s eyes are unwavering. 

“Oh I don’t know.” Dean shrugs. 

“Fuck that. What’s the truth, kid. Did Tony tell you to lie to us?” Dean can fell the anger coming off of Dan. 

“I’m not lying.” 

“Yes you are and you’re shit at it.” Johnny wipes his hands and heads towards Tony’s office. 

Dan and Bill follow Johnny and Dean doesn’t know what to do. He stands there for a bit before going back to working on the car. About thirty minutes later all three men come back. They come back to their work stations and start packing up their tools. 

“What are you doing?” Dean watches them. 

“Packing it up for the day. We’ll be back when Tony decides to be honest with us.” 

The anger builds in Dean’s chest as he watches them back up all of their things. They aren’t planning on coming back. Not anytime soon anyway. Tony is a great man and these three men have known him for basically all their lives. He’s given them a job for almost all of their adults lives and things get a little rough and they pack up and ship out? 

“Are you fucking serious? He’s your friend and things get a little hard and you abandon him.” 

“Friend’s shouldn’t hide things from you and we can’t afford to wait around will the business tanks.” Johnny doesn’t even bother to look at Dean.

“You guys are being shitty. Immediately giving up when you’ve had a job for thirty years with him and because of him.”

“It’s not immediate.” Dan states as they all head out. 

Dean shakes his head in irritation and disappointment. The anger washes over him in waves. Dean’s loyalty can’t understand giving up on someone so easily. Tony has done so much for not only Dean but all of his employees and they just walked out as if Tony was some random man. He gets back to work but the anger doesn’t dissipate. 

~~~~

Dean goes in early the next day to get some extra work done. He doesn’t clock in since he came in early to help Tony out. As he’s looking over the work orders to see what still needs to get done he hears something crash in the back. 

He puts the papers down and rushes to Tony’s office. There’s two men in Tony’s office. One is holding Tony down in his chair and the other is rifling through everything. Tony’s nose is bleeding and his eyes are bruising. 

Dean rushes forward and slams into the man that’s at the desk into the wall. He hears someone yell but the actual words don’t register. He throws a couple of punches at the man and most of them land. He takes half a step back and slams his fist into the guys guys. The man grabs his nose and lurches forward. He takes the opportunity to shove the man onto the ground and land a solid kick to his stomach. Seeing red he turns around to take care of the other man.

As he pivots on his heel a hard hit lands directly onto his check. Dean stumbles back a few steps. His eyes immediately land on a blond grinning maniac. Dean practically growls as he swings forward. The blond dodges with ease and lets out a chuckle. The bastard is having fun. Dean throes a half hearted punch and when the prick dodges he sticks out his leg to trip him. The blond falls on his ass and bites his lips as he stares up at Dean.

“What’s your damage handsome?” The blond hums out.

“What the fuck do you mean? You're here tearing the place apart and beating the shit out of my boss? Dean’s hands are still clenched into fists and ready to start fighting again. 

“And why do you came about him? What has he ever done for you?” 

“Are you fucking stupid? I’m calling the cops.”

“Dean,” Tony groans, “you can’t.” 

“What? What the fuck do you mean I can’t?” 

“Oh what boss of the year that you’re risking your life for hasn’t told you what he’s been up to?” The blond smirks maliciously. 

“Gabe please don’t. He doesn’t have to know. Just let him go.” 

Dean lowers his arms and unclenched his fists. He turns to Tony and his heart drops. The best man he’s ever known is about to let him down. 

“What have you gotten yourself into, Tony?” 

His boss looks down shamefully. Dean sighs and looks to the man apparently named Gabe. 

“Oh what? The big man didn’t tell you that he got involved with the Mob?” There’s a spark in Gabe’s eyes and the pure joy he’s getting from this situation causes a bad taste in Dean’s mouth.

“Why?” He doesn’t bother to look to Tony.

Gabe shrugs. “Times are tough. You’re ol’ pal Tony has been a little strapped for cash. He needed some extra money we supplied as long as he did some favors for us. He fell short on some of the favors. We aren’t a charity. We don’t just give out money. Tony hasn’t kept up his end of the deal. And well it’s time to pay the piper.” He taps his nails on the hardwood floor. 

“How much does he owe?” Dean keeps his eyes hard and on Gabe. 

“Dean don’t do this. This is my mess.”

“And you’ve cleaned up plenty of my messes. How much does he owe?” 

“Five thousand dollars or pay off the debt with equal work. Why you gonna take on his debt for him, lover?” Gabe purrs the last word. 

“Yes. Tony and his family are safe you leave them alone and I pay off his debt.” 

“I’ll get back to you tomorrow. Let you know if we accept the deal.” 

“You can’t just tell me right now?” 

“That not how things work big boy.” Gabe brushes past him on the way out, the man with the bloody nose follows behind him. 

~~~~~~ 

Dean unlocks the door to his apartment and goes into the kitchen. He opens the fridge to try and find something to eat. He sighs and closes the door to the fridge and turns to just watch tv for a little bit. 

“Jesus.” He steps back, alarmed. 

Gabe grins from his place on the couch. He’s wearing suit pants and a loose long sleeved button down that has most of the top buttons open to show his chest. He has two gold chains on and multiple gold rings. He’s lounging on the couch looking as if he’s ready to be painted. 

“You’re instincts are terrible. You need to pay better attention to your surroundings.” 

“Sorry that I’m not prepared at all times for someone to have broken into my house.” Dean snaps back. 

“Apology accepted but fix that. Although I guess you’re right who would want to break into here?” Gabe turns his nose up as he looks around the grimy apartment. 

“What are you doing here?” Dean clenches one fist. 

“Isn’t it obvious Dean-o? I’m here to tell you your offer has been accepted.”

“Okay. Good. How many cars do I have to take apart?”

“Oh no. You aren’t going to be taking apart cars. You’ll be repaying his debt in a different way. I left the information in your mailbox. See you soon, sweetie.” Gabe blows a kiss to Dean as he leaves. 

Dean waits a couple of minutes before going down to his mailbox, He reads the note in his apartment. There’s basically just no information. Just a date, time and location. Nothing saying what the job is going to entail. He heavily leans back into the couch and takes a long drink from his beer bottle. In two days he will be going to an abandoned warehouse uptown. 

There’s nothing to worry about, it’s just an easy job to help Tony out.


	2. The Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> Tell me what you think so far. Do you have a favorite character yet? What do you think is going to happen? I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. I have a lot of plans for this story.  
> Love,  
> Mess

Dean doesn’t own a gun but at this very moment he wishes he did. He might have agreed to this but that doesn’t mean that walking into an abandoned warehouse because a member of the mob ordered him to doesn’t make him feel nervous. Every step he takes echoes through the empty building. He walks up to the second floor like the note instructed him.

There’s a man standing with his back to him in front of a window that takes up the entire wall. His hair is blond like Gabe’s but it’s shorter and he’s taller than Gabe. The man’s posture is perfect. He’s wearing a pristine black suit. 

“Uhm, hello.” Dean stops in the middle of the room. 

The man spins around on his heels. His face is serious and unmoving. 

“Dean Winchester. 6 Penance Avenue. 669-610-9860. 125-55-7332. High school dropout. Local idiot. Correct?” 

He knows that this man is just trying to intimidate him. It’s kind of working. This man also clearly doesn’t like Dean. He actually might hate him. 

Dean narrows his eyes.” You don’t like me. You don’t know me, but you don’t like me.” 

The man takes three steps forward. He’s the same height as Dean, but he doesn’t have to be taller to make Dean feel small. Dean isn’t going to let this guy make him afraid or feel small. He fixes his posture and settles his features, staring directly at the man. 

“Obviously, I know you.” 

“You-” 

“Shut up,” the man cuts him off and Dean takes deep breath his hands twitch to fight against clenching, “Oh are you going to punch me? You going to attack me? Ruin your boss's life?” 

He shoves his hands in his pockets but he doesn’t look away from the man. 

“That’s what I thought. You offered to pay off Anthony’s debt to us. A stupid choice really but we’ve accepted your offer, for some reason. If it was up to me this whole shenanigans wouldn’t be happening. Unfortunately it’s not up to me. The job being offered to you is to be a personal bodyguard for three months. Do you accept this offer?” 

“I accept.” 

The man rolls his eyes. “Perfect,” the sarcasm drips off his tongue, “now before we continue, I just need to let you know one thing. I don’t like outsiders. I especially don’t like outsiders that threaten my family’s safety. I don’t take their safety lightly. So I just need you to know that if anything happens to _any_ of them because of you,” he moves closer and leans in next to his ear, “I will personally be the reason Sam stops breathing.” 

The man moves back and stands up completely straight. Dean knows that this guy isn’t bluffing. His heart is racing but he doesn’t let any emotion show on his face. 

“I’ll pick you up from your crap shoot tomorrow. Be ready by 12:30.” He turns around and walks back to the window. 

~~~~~~

Now Dean isn’t a pussy or anything but he was waiting on by his car at 12:25. A black BMW rolls up next to him at exactly 12:30. The passenger window rolls down. The blond is wearing black sunglasses that make his eyes unseeable. 

“Get in your car and follow me.” 

Dean does as he’s told. He doesn’t know what he was expecting but he can say with certainty that he was not expecting to drive for two hours. TWO. HOURS. He was wholly unprepared for a fucking roadtrip and to end up four towns over. They end up at basically a mansion. It’s on a beach with the closest house about 15 miles away. All the houses in the area are huge with a shit ton of space between them and any ‘neighbors’. 

He follows the black car up the driveway and through the gate. Dean parks behind the BMW. Getting out of his car he grabs his duffle bag. The man doesn’t even bother to wait for him he just starts walking towards the front door. 

“You could have told me that the drive would be two hours!” He shouts after the man. 

“Oh did I not? I meant to.” The man nonchalantly calls back. 

“Liar.” Dean mumbles. 

Once the man gets to the front door, he does stop and wait for Dean. Dean stops next to him and takes a deep breath then turns to stare at the man whose name he still doesn’t know. 

“So are you ever going to tell me your name?” 

“Maybe one day.” Without even looking at him the man turns the handle and pushes the door open. 

They walk into a giant foyer. There’s a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Everything is pristine white. It makes Dean not want to move or touch anything in fear that he will leave a smudge somewhere. It’s very museum esque. 

“Luci’s home!’ Gabe sing song shouts while walking out of a doorway, “and he brought muscles!” 

“Your name is Lucy?” Dean narrows his eyes at the broad shouldered man. 

“No. It’s Lucifer and if you ever call me Luci I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains out.” 

“Oh, Luci,” Gabe comes up to Lucifer and practically hangs off his side, “don’t threaten the handsome one’s.” He then winks at Dean.

Lucifer rolls his eyes. A dark skinned man shows up at the top of the stairs that are directly in front of the door. They don’t lead straight up, they lead to a platform that splits off to the right and to the left. 

“Father wants us in his office. Bring him.” The dark skinned man nods in the direction of Dean. 

Dean follows behind Gabe and Lucifer. The go up the stairs and to the right. After walking up two more flights of stairs and down a hallway, that was too long. Lucifer pushes open a heavy wood door and they step into a room that already has three men in it. The three men are standing in front of a large desk that has a large plush chair behind it but the back is facing them. There’s a shorter dark haired man standing next to al dark haired man that is slightly taller. Then there's the dark skinned man who Gabe stands next to. Lucifer stands next to Gabe and then Dean stands next to him. 

“Hello, Dean. I’ve heard much about you. I expect you to take your new position seriously. Three months of keeping one of my boys safe. If you mess up, a lot of lives will be on your hands.” The chair doesn’t turn around as the father speaks. 

“I understand.” Dean responds. 

“Good. Now these are my boys. You’ve already met Gabriel and Lucifer of course. There’s Castiel my youngest, he’s still learning the business. Then Gabriel, he’s mostly in charge of the dealers. Then Raphael, he’s our money man. Then Lucifer, he handles things when they get out of hand. Then my oldest. Michael, he’s my right hand. You’ll be watching over Castiel.” 

“Um, okay. I-” 

“You’re all dismissed,” Dean is cut off, “The boys will show you around and answer most questions you have.” 

Dean is practically shoved out of the room as everyone leaves. The tell dark haired man and the dark skinned man walk away. Lucifer, Gabe and the shorter dark haired man stay with Dean. 

“Alright, let’s get this bullshit over with,” Lucifer sighs, “this is Castiel. Obviously you won’t be working at Tony’s while working for us. You’ll live here and have your needs taken care of by us as long as you don’t fuck up. Castiel can show you to your room. Any questions?” 

Dean looks at the dark haired kid with bright blue eyes then back at Lucifer. “Uh, yeah, actually.” 

“Well too bad. You’ve interrupted enough of my life.” Lucifer walks away without another word. 

“Have you ever shot a gun?” Gabe turns to Dean. 

“Uhm. Yeah, I have, but it’s been a while.” 

Gabe nods. “Okay. Cas can show you around and probably answer most of your questions. I’ll be back for you in two hours.” 

Then it’s just Dean and Castiel left standing in front of the dark wooden door. 

“How old are you?” Dean questions. 

“Eighteen.” Castiel starts walking away and Dean follows him. 

~~~~

They end up on the second floor on the left side of the building. The two didn’t talk the whole way there. Castiel stops in front of the fourth door on the left side. They step inside and Dean looks around. The room is immaculate not messy at all and has basically no personality. Just different shades of gray. 

“This is your room?” Dean ask clearly confused. 

“Yes. Is there a problem?” 

Dean shakes his head while still looking around. “Nope.” 

“I heard you beat the shit out of Uriel. That’s what Gabe said.” 

Castiel’s face is hard to read. He’s not as stoic as Lucifer. Dean can see the fascination in the kids eyes. 

“Guess I did.” 

Castiel looks away but Dean sees a slight smirk cross his face. “I don’t need a bodyguard, but father insists that I have one. This is going your room.” Castiel walks over to a door and pushes it open. 

Dean walks over to the open doorway and steps into the room. The walls are painted a dark blue. All the furniture is dark brown and there’s a king sized bed. Not too shabby. 

“So do your brothers not have bodyguards?” Dean drops his duffle on the floor next to his bed. 

“They kind of do.” Castiel doesn’t move from the doorway connecting their rooms. 

“How do they kind of have bodyguards?” Dean starts opening drawers and doors exploring his new room. 

“Because their bodyguards do more than just guard them. Also no one really calls them bodyguards because no one looks at them like bodyguards.” Castiel tries to hide the bitterness in his tone but Dean catches it. 

Once he’s done getting his bearings of the room he turns to Castiel. 

“So, you going to teach me everything about this life?” 

Castiel gently purses his lips together. “Why should I?” He asks after a beat.

“Well if I’m supposed to keep you safe, how can I do that if I don’t know anything? I’m not a mobster. I’m a mechanic. This all of this,” Dean holds his arms out and spins in a circle, “I don’t fucking know any of this shit.” 

Castiel shrugs and walks into his room. “Fair enough. Sit.” The blue eyed man points at his bed. 

Dean sits down and watches as Castiel leaves the room then comes back wheeling in whiteboard. Castiel takes a black marker and at the top of the board in neat handwriting writes FAMILY TREE. 

“First there is Father, obviously. The head of the show in charge of everything. Then there’s Michael. Oldest son, right hand man, make sure everyone stays in line and keeps everything going. After Michael there’s Lucifer. Second son, pro-troturer and takes can of big problems. Then Raphael, third son, keeps track of the money and the books, makes sure we aren’t being cheated. After him there’s Gabriel, the fourth son, in charge of the dealers and distributing the drugs. Finally, me, the prodigy.” Castiel steps aside. 

“Okay,” Dean nods and looks at the tree, “That’s it?”

“Oh no that’s just the beginning,” Castiel draws a line off of Michael’s name, “Zachariah is technically Michael’s bodyguard but he says he’s Michael’s eyes and ears. Really he’s just a snitch. On everyone. Don’t trust him. Ever.” He glares at the name. 

“Gadreel is Lucifer’s right hand. As Gabe says they are the perfect pair of assholes. If you ever catch them both in a bad mood just walk away. Then, we have Metatron,” Castiel sighs heavily, “he is… Honestly he’s the worst. He’s an annoying narcissistic know it all. Luckily he works for Raphael so no one really has to be around him except for Raphael and books.” 

Dean wants to laugh because seeing hatred come from a kid with almost no facial expression and a boring ass room is strange. To be fair seeing any strong emotion from him would probably be weird. 

“Uriel is basically Gabriel’s bodyguard. He’s not too bad.” Castiel shrugs, “Those are the main people.” 

“Okay,” Dean nods while looking over everyone’s names, “so do you guys just do drugs?” 

“No. We mostly do drugs, but we also do weapons and loans. Some organized crime but that’s a little rare. That’s as much as I’ll tell you for now.” 

In the blink of an eye everything is erased off the board. Dean rubs his right temple. He doesn’t regret agreeing to this because he’s keeping Tony and his family safe. It’s just a lot to take in. Basically overnight his entire life was flipped upside down. 

“I know it’s a lot to take in but if you’re going to be here for three months there’s going to be even more to know and remember.” 

Dean nods and glances around the room again. “So is there a reason your room looks like this?” 

“What do you mean?” Castiel narrows his eyes and looks around. 

“I mean everything is gray and it doesn’t even look like anyone lives in here.” 

“The comforter is blue and white.” 

Dean looks down at the comforter. “Oh wow you’re right. I take it back. It doesn’t look like the room of someone trying to figure out how to be a human.”

Castiel glares at him. “Well what do you think it should look like?” 

“Isn’t there things you like? Books, movies, tv shows? Video games or a favorite color? Anything? Some kind of personality?” 

“Oooh,” Castiel nods in understanding, “so you want it to be messy and have movies posters and pointless belongings everywhere? Yeah as far as personality goes, I'm more mature than that.” 

Dean holds back a snort. Instead he just nods. Since he is going to be spending a lot of time around the kid he does want to get to know him. 

“So since you’re so mature and serious what do you enjoy doing?” 

“Why do you care?” Castiel crosses his arms over his chest. 

“I just want to get to know you.”

“Gross.” Castiel pushes the whiteboard out of the room. 

~~~~ 

After Castiel gave Dean a tour of the house. Which for the record is too large and he is fairly certain that he will get lost in it at some point. Gabriel finds him and takes him to the shooting range that is on their property. Yes, you read that right. The shooting range that is _on_ their property. 

Gabe handed a Colt with a pearl finished handle. Dean asked if he was sure he wanted to give him such a nice gun. Gabriel’s response was to bite his lip and say that a beautiful man deserves a beautiful gun then wink. They practice shooting for about an hour before Gabe calls it quits. 

“You’re not too shabby Winchester. You can come out here and practice whenever. I’m starving though so lets get some dinner.” 

Dean tucks the gun into the back of his jeans and pulls his shirt over it. He follows Gabe back to the house. They walk into the house and Dean is hit with an amazing smell. The mix of spices make his mouth water. They walk into the kitchen where a man is stirring something at the stove. 

“Dean you remember Uriel.” Gabe reaches into a cabinet and takes out plates. 

The man at the stove turns briefly to look at Dean. It’s the man that Dean beat up at the garage. The scowl that Uriel sends his way is a clear message. Give me one reason to fuck your life up and I will. Uriel turns back around and covers the pot he was stirring. 

“What’s for din-din deary?” Gabe asks as he starts setting the table. 

“How many times do I have to tell you not call me that?” Uriel asks in a monotone voice. 

Gabriel stares at him and blinks blankly. Uriel sighs in response and takes something out of the oven. 

“Roasted chicken.” 

“Oh so you made your best dish for our new guest.” Gabe smirks. To which Uriel grunts. 

Gabriel calls over the intercom when dinner is being placed on the table.Everyone shows up relatively quickly. In total there are seven people at the table. Dean lets everyone else sit down first then takes the last seat which is between Castiel and Gabriel. Dean notices that their father isn’t at the table. He knows this because he hasn’t seen their dad’s face yet and he recognizes everyone faces at the table. 

The tall brunette, who he is fairly certain is Michael, says a prayer before they eat. The beginning half of dinner is completely silent except for the sound of everyone eating. It’s fucking weird. The silence is broken by Gabriel who talks through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. 

“Very rude of you to ignore our new member Mikey and Raphy.” He swallows loudly. 

“That’s fucking disgusting Gabriel. Don’t do that.” The one he’s pretty sure is Michael stares at Gabe. 

“Member is a fairly permanent word. He’s only going to be here for three months.” The one that he thinks its Raphael states. 

Is this family a bunch of robot aliens? Why don’t any of them show any emotion except Gabe? 

“He is right there,” Gabe stabs his fork in the direction of Dean, “and so what? He’s only going to be here for three months so you don’t have to talk to him?” 

“I mean what’s the point?” Michael asks with a bored tone. 

“Well king of manners it is rude to ignore people.” 

“We aren’t ignoring him-” 

“No. You’re just talking about him as if he doesn’t exist and isn’t sitting here with us.” Castiel interrupts Raphael. 

Michael blinks at Castiel a few times while Raphael stares at him looking annoyed. After a few seconds Michael looks away from Castiel and his steadfast eyes land on Dean. 

“Welcome, Dean,” he says his name as if he’s a peasant, a commoner, “you won’t last two weeks here.” 

Lucifer smirks but doesn’t look up from his food and Uriel breathes out the lightest chuckle. Gabe jabs his elbow into Uriel’s side. 

“That’s real fucking nice Michael.” Gabe leans forward as if ready for a challenge. 

Michael’s head turns so quickly to look at Gabe that Dean is surprised he didn’t snap his own neck. 

“I don’t know who you think you are cursing at me but check yourself. I did as you asked. I acknowledged his existence.” 

Gabe stands up. “Oh and we are but so thankful, master. Aren’t we thankful Dean. The master gave you common decency we are but so lucky.” He bows multiple times in Michael’s direction. 

Raphael rolls his eyes and starts eating again. Castiel picks at his food but doesn’t look up from his plate. Lucifer does the exact opposite. He puts his fork down and starts watching enthused. Uriel starts clearing things away from the table. 

“Must we do this? Must you always put on a show?” Michael sighs heavily. 

“Of course he does. He can’t help himself. We all know that dinner time is really the Gabriel hour.” Lucifer cuts in. 

Gabe turns to look at Lucifer. “Is there an issue Lucifer? Because if we have an issue then we can handle it right now.” 

“ _I_ have no issue,” Lucifer holds his hand to his chest, “but I’m not the one that needs everyone’s attention at all times of the day.” 

Gabriel nods his head as if he understands something. Then suddenly reaches out and grabs his glass. The flirtatious blond aggressively throws the glass at Lucifer’s face. It would have hit him too if Lucifer hadn’t ducked in time. Castiel puts his fork down and pushes his plate away from himself. Raphael continues to eat. 

“Gabriel. Control yourself.” Michael doesn’t yell but his deep voice booms through the room. 

“Are you sure you’re ready to start this, fruitcake?” Lucifer stands up and cracks his knuckles. 

“Lucifer.” Michael booms. 

Both blondes ignore their older brother and lunge at each other from across the table. Without thinking Dean stands up and grabs Gabe by the waist and pulls him back before he can reach Lucifer. Lucifer ends up landing on the table and his face hits the bowl of mashed potatoes since he didn’t have Gabriel to grab onto. 

Immediately Gabe starts laughing. He sounds almost like a hyena with his maniacal laughter. 

“That’s what you get for being a douchebag!” Gabe points at Lucifer before hunching over and holding his stomach while he laughs. 

Dean lets go of the shortish blond and takes a step back. He looks over to Michael who is now standing up and staring at him. Dean can’t read his face at all and doesn’t know what to do so he simply looks away. Lucifer peels himself off the table and wipes some of the mashed potatoes off his face before looking at Gabriel with murder in his eyes. 

“You’re going to fucking regret that you little wh-” 

“Enough Lucifer!” This time Michael does raise his voice, “now you’ve both ruined our dinner. Pull yourself together, be an adult, and go clean yourself up.” He snaps at his brother. 

Lucifer stares and Michael for a beat and for a millisecond Dean can see betrayal in the tall blondes eyes. Lucifer rolls his shoulders back and stands up straight before walking off. 

“You can do the clean up and dishes tonight, Gabriel.” Michael pushes in his chair and starts walking away. 

“But it’s Cas’s night!” Gabe whines. 

Michael stops and looks over his shoulder. “I don’t give a single shit. If you can start a fight then you can do the dishes.”

Once Michael is gone Castiel stands up and starts gathering dishes. “I’ll still help you Gabe.” 

“You don’t have to Cas-” 

“It’s fine.” Castiel cuts Gabe off but doesn’t look at him while walking past him. 

Dean doesn’t know what else to do so he starts clearing off the table as well. 


	3. The Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't my favorite chapter but I think it's necessary to move things along. Sorry if you don't like this one as much either but the next one will be better! I'll give you a hint to the next chapter at the end. I already know how Michael and Dean are going to get closer but I'm curious as to how you all think it's going to happen. Also what's everyone thinking about Chuck?  
> Love,  
> Mess

He’s laying in the luxurious bed that is now his for three months. At first he tried going to sleep but he kept thinking about the events of the day. He couldn’t stop thinking about dinner and everything that happened. He knows that family’s fight, but throwing a glass directly at your brothers face. That’s some insane shit. All these people keep emphasizing how much family means to them. Sitting through dinner, family most certainly did not seem like the most important thing to any of them. 

Why wasn’t their dad at dinner? Is he usually not at dinner? Are Gabriel and Lucifer usually at each other's throats? Or is there something specific that they are fighting about? Everyone seemed used to it all. Raphael seemed almost bored by the whole ordeal. Dean has a feeling that Rapahel wouldn’t seem so uninterested if he was the one involved in a fight. The look in his eyes when Castiel went back at him. Raphael might not snap easily but Dean can tell that when he does he loses it. 

He felt bad for Castiel. The kid barely ate after they started arguing. It was obvious to Dean that Castiel was uncomfortable, maybe even a little upset. Castiel was annoyed with Gabe but still helped him clean up. 

Dean sighs and turns down the volume of his tv. This family is going to test him and put him through a lot. One thing is for certain though, he will last more than two weeks. He’ll pay off Tony’s debt. He glances at his phone. Almost on in the morning. He hears a door open and then gently close. Immediately he stands up and grabs his gun off the nightstand. He stuffs it in the back of his pajama pants and slips on his shoes. 

He opens the door and sees Castiel sneaking down the hall. 

“What are you doing?” Dean asks quietly. 

Castiel turns around. “I’m starving. I want McDonalds.” 

“Oh. Okay.” Dean feels like he should probably go with him but he doesn’t know exactly how to go about that. 

Castiel throws a pair of keys at him which he just manages to catch. “Are you coming?” The blue eyed boy asks while walking away. 

~~~~~

They are sitting in the Mcdonalds drive thru waiting to go up to the window to pay. The radio is on but the volume is relatively low. The two didn’t talk at alls on the drive and Castiel only said something when he was telling Dean his order. 

“So,” Dean taps his fingers on the steering wheel, “dinner always like that?” 

Castiel sighs heavily and leans his head back. “Feels like always.” 

“Your dad ever come to dinner?” 

“Sometimes he does. All of that would have still happened if he was there.” 

Dean nods. He doesn’t know what else to say. He has questions but he doesn’t know how far is too far. 

“We could have went out right after cleaning up. You didn’t have to sit around being hungry.” Dean pulls up to the window to pay and Castiel shoves a twenty in his hand. 

He gets a shrug in response. As soon as they get the food Castiel opens his box of nuggets and digs in. 

“Lucifer said he couldn’t find like any info on your mom.” Castiel states after slurping down probably half of his diet coke. 

Dean grips the wheel tighter but relaxes quickly. “She died.” He says after clearing his throat. 

“Oh. I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better none of us know our moms.” Castiel shrugs and offers Dean some fries. 

“Why would that make me feel better?” He questions while taking the fries. 

“I don’t know. You’re not alone in being momless?” 

Silence follows after that strange statement. They continue to eat as Dean drives them back to the house. They pull up to the gate and Castiel tells him the code to punch in. 

“So you’ve never met your mom?” Dean asks, curious. 

“Nope. I don’t know anything about her either. As far as I know none of us have ever met our moms or know anything about them.” 

“You all have different moms?” 

“I think so.” Castiel says it so nonchalantly, but to him it’s normally so Dean figures that makes sense. 

Castiel gathers all the trash and throws it away in one of the large trash cans outside. More silence as they walk back to their rooms. Dean opens his door and is about to step inside when Castiel whispers. 

“Do you remember her? Your mom.” 

“I remember parts of her. I was really young.” 

Castiel nods in understanding. “I am sorry. Thanks for driving.” With that he goes into his room of grayness. 

~~~~~ 

The following two days weren’t anything crazy. Castiel starts his day at six in the morning but Dean is used to getting up early. Castiel didn’t even leave the house the past two days and Dean only did to pick them up lunch. They spent most of their time in the library in the house. He isn’t actually sure what Castiel was doing but he thinks it was something for Michael. He hasn’t met any of the other people. The past two days did end with Lucifer and Gabriel fighting at dinner again. 

Dean is making eggs for the both of them for breakfast. He wouldn’t say he’s comfortable in the house but he is getting slightly less uneasy every day. 

“Michael wants to have a meeting today at ten.” Castiel tells him before digging into his breakfast. 

Dean nods while taking a sip of his coffee. 

“Can I ask what you’ve been doing the past two days?” 

“Mmm. No.” 

Dean nods because of course. They continue to eat in silence. Castiel isn’t much of a talker. Which doesn’t bother Dean too much he’s not much of a talker either but compared to Castiel he’s a chatterbox. After breakfast Dean goes for a run around the property while Castiel does laundry. 

~~~~~

Dean jogs to a stop once he reaches the driveway. He does a few stretches and hears a car door slam. He looks over to where the sound came from. A tall man with a black suit on and almost white blond hair is standing next to red suv. The man looks up from his phone and at Dean. He looks him up and down then rolls his eyes. 

“You must be Dean.” The man says while typing on his phone. 

“Right.” Dean starts walking back to the house because he’s really over dealing with these assholes

The man doesn’t say anything else to him. He heads up to his room and takes a quick shower before heading to the library where Castiel is already. THe eighteen year old is sitting at his desk and writing something down. 

“So who has super blond hair? Like almost white blonde.” Dean asks while sitting across from Castiel. 

“Zachariah. Is he here?” Castiel asks and looks up from his book. 

“Yeah and he really is an ass.” 

“Yeah he is,” Castiel sighs heavily, “I didn’t think he would be coming to the meeting.” 

Dean picks up the book he’s been reading. Castiel works and Dean reads until a little before ten o’clock. Then they head to Michael’s office. They are the first ones that walk into the office . Castiel takes a seat and Dean stands behind the chair. Michael doesn’t look up from what he’s doing. Raphael is the next to come in. Then Gabriel with Uriel. Uriel stands behind Gabriel like Dean with Castiel. Zachariah comes in and stands next to Michael who still hasn’t looked up. Finally at ten fifteen Lucifer and who he is assuming is Gadreel walk in. The one he is assuming is Gadreel closes the door behind him and then stands behind Lucifer. Michael puts his pen down and looks up, face as neutral as ever. 

“We suddenly don’t have respect for each other in this house I see.” Michael folds his hands on top of the desk and pointedly looks at Lucifer then Gabe.

“Can you save us the lecture?” Lucifer rolls his eyes. 

Michael looks back to Lucifer and if looks could kill Dean is sure Lucifer would be dead. 

“Michael, I don’t really see why Castiel and I have to be here. This is between Lucifer and Gabe.” Raphael cuts in. 

“We are a family. They’ve brought this pathetic feud to all of us, so now it’s affecting all of us. So together as a family we will work this out.” 

“There’s nothing to work out.” Lucifer shrugs. 

“Yeah. Lucifer is an entitled asshole nothing will ever change that.” Gabe leans back in his chair. 

Lucifer’s head snaps sharply in Gabe’s direction. “Why don’t you say that to my face.” 

Dean hears Castiel’s gentle sigh. He keeps a straight face but his heart hurts for the kid. 

“We are not doing this.” Michael tries to regain control of the situation but Dean doesn’t think that’s possible right now. 

Gabriel stands up and walks over to where Lucifer is sitting. He puts his hands on either side of the chair and leans in. Dean takes a subtle step away from the chair. Something is about to happen and he needs to be ready to act. He puts one hand on the back of Castiel’s chair. 

“I said you're an entitled narcissistic asshole.” 

Everything that follows that statement happens so incredibly fast. 

Lucifer punches Gabriel in the jaw. Gabe reels back and quickly recovers he lunges forward and knocks Lucifer out of his chair. Both hit the ground and the possible Gadreel stumbles back into a bookcase. Multiple books fall out of the case. Uriel reaches forward and tries to grab onto Gabe’s shirt but instead gets a hit to the eyebrow courtesy of Lucifer. Pure rage fills Uriel’s eyes and possible Gadreel must pick up on that because he pushes Uriel with so much force that Uriel stumbles back and falls into Michael's desk. Michael stands up and tries to get out from behind his desk but Zachariah gets in his way. Michael shoulder shoves Zachariah out of the way to which Raphael laughs loudly. 

Zachariah glares at Raphael who in turn flips him off. Possible Gadreel takes a step to go after Uriel who is watching Gabe and Lucifer punch each other. 

“Get him!” Michael yells at possible Gadreel and points at Lucifer. 

Possible Gadreel looks away from Uriel and down at Lucifer. Possible Gadreel reaches down in an attempt to grab Lucifer’s collar of his shirt. Gabe sits up and scoots slightly away from Lucifer, nose bloody. Gabe grabs possible Gadreel’s arm harshly and yanks him down. Possible Gadreel falls onto Lucifer. Someone yelps. Michael reaches down and places a hand on Gabe’s shoulder. Gabe spins around and kicks Michael’s legs out from under him. Michael lands hard on his ass. Raphael finally stands up then Castiel does. Raphael starts walking towards Gabriel as Lucifer pushes possible Gadreel off of him and lunges forward. Gabe’s head slams into the dark wood desk. 

“What the fuck!” Dean exclaims. 

Castiel covers his mouth in shock. Dean pushes past Raphael and Zachariah who are now standing still. Michael and possible Gadreel stand up at the same time. Dean reaches toward Lucifer who is definitely out of control. Dean grabs Lucifer under the armpits and hauls him up then pushes him in the direction of Michael who quickly wraps his arms around Lucifer’s. Michael wrestles Lucifer to the ground and puts a knee on his chest. 

“Pull yourself together you insane fuck!” Michael screams in Lucifer’s face. 

The entire room falls silent. Lucifer stops fighting and stares up at his older brother. While Dean is shocked because Michael does seem like the type of man to always have it together and never lose it. Dean knows that what Michael did is only a fraction of the rage he can unleash. The calm ones always have the most unholy rage hiding inside. 

Dean looks away from the two oldest and kneels down next to Gabe whose face is bloody and head must be killing him. 

“You okay?” Dean asks while putting his hand under Gabe’s arm and helping the short blond stand. 

“Uh, sure.” Gabe’s voice is small and not the normal sassy. 

Dean leads him back to his chair and lowers him down so he can sit. “I’ll be right back.” He tells Gabe. 

Dean doesn’t bother to look at anyone else. He goes to the kitchen and fills a ziploc bag with ice and wraps it in a dish towel. Then he wets another dish towel and grabs a dry one before going back up to the office. When he walks back in everyone's back in their place as if nothing happened. Dean wouldn’t even be able to tell that a brawl just happened if it wasn’t for Gabe’s face. 

Uriel takes everything from Dean with a curt nod. 

“Thanks.” Gabe says meekly. 

Uriel gives the wet cloth to Gabe and holds the ice pack to the blond’s head himself. 

“Well,” Michael clears his throat, his face is calm but there's a fire in his eyes, “that was unacceptable.” 

“Unacceptable? Gabe probably has a concussion.” Castiel loudly states. 

Everyone’s eyes land on Castiel and Dean feels a surge of protectiveness over the kid. 

“I understand, Cas-” 

“Oh you understand?” Castiel scoffs while interpreting Michael, “you’re all fucking ridiculous.” He rolls his eyes and leans heavily back in his chair. 

“I understand that you’re upset Castiel but there’s no need for this behaviour.” Michael grinds the words out through his teeth. 

Castiel’s laughs dryly. “Whatever, Mikey. This is all a waste of time anyway so just get it over with.” He folds his arms across his chest and looks at the wall next to him. 

Michael stares at the youngest for a couple of beats before continuing. “Thank you Dean for helping control the situation. I didn’t think you would have it in you.” 

Dean blinks in response to the backhanded compliment. 

“Now. Lucifer. Gabriel. _What_ is this feud about?” 

Lucifer opens his mouth but Gabriel beats him to speaking. “It doesn’t matter.” 

Gabe stands up and his knees buckle. Uriel quickly reaches out and steadies the man. 

“It does matter. You two won’t stop fighting which while isn’t unusual is more violent than normal. So sit back down.” 

“No,” Gabe snaps, “because Castiel is right. This is waste of fucking time. The same thing that always happens will happen. I’ll tell you what happened. Lucifer will lie. You’ll defend him and I’ll leave feeling like shit and looking like an asshole.” 

Michael stands up and slams his hands on the desk. Gabe flinches at the sound and hold his head. 

“I don’t know when the fuck you all thought it was suddenly okay to disrespect me but it stops right now. Sit. Down. Gabriel.” Michael stares at the blond, his blue eyes full of anger. 

Gabriel slowly sits down and Uriel puts the ice pack back on his head. Michael walks out from behind the desk and leans against the front of it. He crosses his arms over his chest and looks to Lucifer. 

“Lucifer. What happened? Truth only. I’ll know if you lie.” 

Lucifer stares back at Michael. There’s something strange about Lucifer’s eyes but Dean can’t figure out what. The tall blond runs his tongue across his lips and cracks his knuckles. 

“I called him,” Lucifer scratches his eyebrow, “a faggot slut.” 

Everyone in the room grimaces at the harsh words that flow out of Lucifer’s mouth. Everyone expect Michael and Gabe. 

“You’re a piece of shit.” Raphael leans forward and pointedly looks at Lucifer. 

Lucifer doesn't look away from Michael who is slowly nodding. 

Michael holds a long finger to his lips. “Why?” 

Everyone’s eyes are on Lucifer. Lucifer is only looking at Michael, but it seems like it is taking everything in him to not look away. 

“We were fighting.” 

“About what?” Raphael demands. 

Lucifer breathes in deeply and exhales slowly. “I don’t think it matters.” 

Michael turns to look at Gabe. “What was it about?” 

“He killed one of my dealers. Unnecessarily.” 

“It was necessary.” Lucifer doesn’t look at Gabe. 

“I told you I was handling it!” 

“You never handle it.” 

“That’s not fucking true!” 

“Yes it is.” 

“No it’s not!” Gabe shakes his head, “You know what is true though. She barely owed any money. I told you I had it under control, but you’re a sick fuck who enjoys being a mur-”

“Enough.” Micahel harshly cuts Gabe off. 

“Okay. This is what is going to happen. Raphael is going to look into the situation with the dealer and see how it should have been handled. Lucifer in the meantime you’re suspended for two weeks from your position.” 

“What? Who will do my job then? For two weeks. Do you know how much will fall behind?” Lucifer doesn’t raise his voice but the anger is obvious. 

“Zachariah can handle it,” Lucifer becomes completely still, “suspended two weeks. You owe Gabriel a personal apology by the end of today. Lastly you’ll be doing yard work doing your two week suspension. Everyone understand?” 

A series of yes’ follow. 

“Good. You can all leave, but Castiel please stay behind.” 

Everyone gets up and starts walking towards the door. Dean stays put. Uriel keeps and arm on Gabe at all times. Michael goes back to writing something down. 

“Oh and Lucifer,” everyone stops and Michael doesn’t look up from his desk, “if you ever talk like that to one of your brothers again it will be the last time you talk.” 

On that note everyone leaves the room. Once the door closes and a few minutes pass Michael looks back up and at Castiel who still has his arms crossed. 

“It’s not okay to talk to me like that and I know you know that because you never do. Why today?” 

“I have a lot of work to get done.” Castiel sighs and tries to stand but Dean gently pushes him back down because if he’s gathered anything from today he knows that Castiel isn’t going to get away that easily. 

“I just want to know why Castiel. I don’t want to lecture you or argue I just want to know what got you upset today.” 

“I knew why Gabe was upset and he was right, you always stand up for Lucifer.” 

Michael nods. “I didn’t think that I usually took his side.” 

“Always,” Castiel corrects, “and what he did was super messed up.” 

“I agree. I’ll be more mindful. You can get back to work. Again thank you Dean.” 

Dean and Castiel leave on that weird note. 

~~~~ 

Castiel has been staring ahead blankly for twenty minutes. As soon as they got back to the library Castiel sat down and just started looking ahead and hasn’t stopped. At first Dean was going to see how long it would go on for ], but now it’s been going on for over twenty minutes and Dean is bored. 

“Are you like momentarily shutting down? Should I expect a whirring sound to start coming from you?” Dean asks. 

“Should I expect nonstop robot jokes for the next three months?” Castiel asks without looking away from the walk in front of him. 

“Yes.” Dean answers without missing a beat. 

Castiel shakes his head slightly and looks over at Dean. 

“You wanna talk about what happened?” Dean leans back in his chair.

“What have a heart to heart? Curl up and watch a rom-com and really get to know each other?” Castiel scoffs and opens up his laptop. 

“Dude, I’m just trying to be here for you.” 

“Because you have no other choice. Because you have to be here.” 

“Yeah. I do have to be here but that doesn’t mean I’m heartless.” 

Castiel doesn’t say anything in response to that. Dean doesn’t push any farther he doesn’t see the point. Maybe eventually Castiel will start to open up to him. He does understand where the kid is coming from, but like he told him he isn’t heartless. He’s going to be here for three months he’s not going to just be a brick wall to everyone around him. 

~~~~

Dinner was canceled so Dean ended up picking up burgers from a local joint for he and Castiel. After they ate Castiel said he wanted to be alone so Dean went to his room to watch tv and mess around on his phone. 

Sometime after nine the door to his room opens and quickly closes. Gabe is standing with his back against the door and face bruised. 

“Thanks for today. Lucifer. He can be,” Gabe takes a long pause while thinking about the words to use, “well he can be psychotic.” 

“You don’t have to thank me for anything.” Dean sits up on the edge of the bed. 

“Learn how to take a thanks.” Gabe walks over to the bed and flops down on the opposite side. 

“I gotta say I don’t understand this family.” Dean turns slightly so that he can look at Gabe whose slightly swollen eyes are closed. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Family keeps being stressed to me over and over again. I’m getting threatened because you all say how important family is. But. Really seems like none of you like each other too much.” 

“You have a brother. You’re telling me that you two don’t fight?” 

“I don’t see my brother anymore.” 

Gabe opens his eyes and turns to look at Dean. “Are you serious? You don’t talk to your little brother anymore?” 

“I didn’t have too much of a choice in the matter.” Dean makes sure that he doesn’t show any emotion. 

“Damn. That sucks. So you don’t have any family?” 

“Guess not.” Dean shrugs. 

“Damn,” Gabe sighs, “things are starting to make sense.” 

Dean lays down next to the hazel eyed man. “I’m glad they are for you.” 

“I know my family is weird, but I mean nothing about us is conventional. We run a fucking mob Dean what were expecting from us? Yeah we fight and we go at each other's throats but I don’t know. I still love them all. They’re my brothers and nothing will change that.” 

“Not even your brother calling you a slur?” Dean turns his head so that he’s looking at Gabe and not the ceiling. 

Gabe purses his lips together. “Like I said he’s a psycho. He says things that he knows will hurt someone. It’s not right but it’s Lucifer.” 

Dean hums because he doesn't have anything positive to say back to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hint time!  
> The next chapter will have a party.


	4. The Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Who can't wait for more Michael and Dean interaction? I promise it's coming soon. I also can't wait for it.  
> Love,  
> Mess

The alarm rings in his ear. He blindly turns it off and rolls over, yawns and stretches. Dean opens his eyes and is met with a sleeping, swollen faced Gabe. They spent the night talking and it was actually kind of nice. Gabe fell asleep and Dean not only didn’t know where Gabe’s room was located but also was too tired to carry him anywhere. He frowns slightly at the swelling and light bruises. 

Talking to Gabe made some things clear but he still can’t understand beating the shit out of your own brother like that. Especially your baby brother. He gets changed into work out clothes and heads down to the kitchen. After putting a pot of coffee on he gets a dish towel and runs it under cold water. Once the towel is saturated he hurries back up to his room where Gabe is still sleeping and gently lays the cold cloth on the most swollen eye. 

“You fucked him.” Castiel is leaning against the counter he takes a sip from his mug. 

“Um. Excuse me?” 

“Gabe. You fucked him.”

“No.” 

“Don’t lie.” Castiel rolls his eyes and sits down at the table. 

“I’m not lying.” 

Castiel huffs in disgust. Dean walks over to the kid and pushes his shoulder back so that he looks up. 

“I’m not lying,” Dean says sternly, “Gabe came in my room last night and thanked me for breaking up the fight. He stayed and we talked. He fell asleep that’s it.” 

“What did you talk about?” 

“You guys. All of you crazy ass brothers.” 

Castiel hums and looks Dean up and down then stares at his face. Dean stares back at him. The staring contest ends when Castiel looks away and takes another sip of coffee.

“So what’s for breakfast?” 

Dean walks over to the fridge. “What are you in the mood for?” 

~~~~~

It’s been ten days since he moved into the mob mansion, that’s the unofficial name of the house that Dean has officially given it. It’s also been seven days since Cas accused Dean of fucking Gabe. Gabe found that story funny, a little too funny. 

In that time Dean’s made some progress. He now calls Castiel, Cas. Uriel doesn’t glare at him anymore and he’s had one conversation with Raphael that lasted over a minute. So, progress. 

Currently they are having a meeting. There are in what is basically a conference room that is located in the basement. They are at a long oval table. Michael is at the head of it with Zachariah sitting to his left and Raphael to right. Lucifer is sitting next to Raphael and Gadreel, who is confirmed Gadreel and no longer possible Gadreel, is standing behind Lucifer. Gabe is sitting next to Zachariah and Uriel is standing behind him. Cas is next to Gabe and Dean is standing behind him. 

Raphael has been talking about profit margins and other money related things for about an eternity at this point. It’s taking every ounce of strength Dean has to not fall asleep.

“So, while this all sounds ideal and most of it is. Don’t be fooled. We still have about ten pages of backlogged dealer numbers to go through. Which means that-” 

“Okay,” Michael cuts Raphael off, “you’ve lost the crowd Raphael. Maybe we should move on before everyone takes an afternoon nap at the table. You and I can continue going over the numbers tonight.” 

Raphael huffs in aggravation but nods in agreement. The brown eyed man closes his notebook and glares at everyone who looks tired. So he glares at everyone except Michael. 

“Moving on then. Zachariah how are things going? You only have four days left covering for Lucifer. I’m hoping he won’t have to come back to any messes.” Michael leans back in the lofty leather chair. 

“Not much to report. Everything is going smoothly. Lucifer will come back to a more organized area than what he left me.” 

Lucifer stares coldly at the brown noser. 

“Perfect. Next then, Gabe. Anything to report?” 

“Nope.” Gabe pops the ‘p’ and flutters his lashes at Michael. 

“Nothing at all?” 

“Nada.” 

“How interesting considering I asked you to have the numbers of how many active dealers we have, how many are behind on sales, if any owe us money, and how recruitment is looking.” Michael interlocks his fingers together and places his hands under his chin while not looking away from Gabe. 

Gabe hums and narrows his eyes. “Are you sure? I don’t remember you asking anything of the sort.” 

“Uriel, you were there. Do you remember me asking?” 

Instead of answering Uriel pulls a beige folder seemingly out of nowhere and hands it Gabe. Gabe opens the folder and looks through the papers that are in it. 

“Aaaah,” Gabe sighs, “now I remember you asking for these numbers. They’re good.” He nods and closes the folder. 

“Let me see them.” Michael holds out his hand. 

“No need.” Gabe shrugs. 

Michael moves his eyebrows slightly so that they are almost furrowed but not quite. Gabe sighs and slides the folder across the table. It lands perfectly in front of the oldest son. The dark haired, blue eyed man skims over all the papers. 

“All of these numbers could be better. You have four days to fix this and if you don’t then the ones who owe us are being handed off to Lucifer.” Michael slides the folder back. 

“Okay.” Gabe takes it and hands it back to Uriel. 

“How’s the research going Castiel?” 

“Good.” Cas slides a thick ass binder down to Michael. 

Michael nods and briefly looks through the binder before closing it and pushing it in front of Zachariah. 

“Very good.” 

The rest of the meeting consists of talking about quality, manufacturing and distribution. Michael says that he will be checking up on all the warehouses within the next week. By the time it ends dean is starving. As soon as everyone has gone their own ways and Cas and Dean are by themselves Cas lets out a long groan. 

“Holy crap I’ve never been so damn hungry in my life!” Cas starts walking to the garage. 

“What are you thinking for lunch?” Dean grabs the keys for his car off the wall. 

“McDonald’s.” 

“Dude you have a problem. No McDonalds. Let’s go to someplace that isn’t terrible for you.” 

“How dare you.” Cas says in mock offense. 

They go to a local Mexican place and get some burritos to go. By the time they get back to the house the entire bag of chips and container of guacamole is gone. While they eat in the library Dean gives Cas a list of movies to pick from. They’ve started watching a movie every night because Cas barely watches movies and he hasn’t seen any classics or just ones that are really good. They started five days ago. 

“Since you keep bringing up Top Gun how about we watch that.” 

“Perfect. I’m not a huge fan of Tom Cruise but Top Gun is such a good movie that you can look past him.” 

~~~~ 

“Alright losers! Get up get dressed in something cool and lets go! Fun bus is leaving in ten minutes!” Gabe busts into Dean’s room interrupting Top Gun. 

“Were watching a movie Gabe.” Cas shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth. 

“No you’re going to a party.” Gabe grabs the remote off the bed and pauses the movie. 

“I don’t want to go to a party.” 

Gabe groans loudly and opens up Dean’s closest. “You’re eighteen Cas! Live a little! You like never go out. Come on Dean talk some sense into him.” 

“Uh, how safe is this party?” 

Gabe groans even louder and flops onto the ground. “I didn’t think you would be a wet blanket, Dean-o!” 

“Fine. We’ll go.” Cas rolls his eyes and stuffs another handful of popcorn before hopping off the bed. 

“Yes!” Gabe hops up picks a grey shirt out of Dean’s closet throws it at him and then basically skips out of the room. 

“You gave in pretty easily.” 

“Well he doesn’t really take no for an answer.” The kid stretches before heading to his room to get changed out of his sweats. 

~~~~~ 

Uriel is driving, Dean is in the passenger seat, Gabe and Cas are in the backseat, and his gun is pressing against his back. The house they end up at isn’t too far away it was about a thirty minute drive. He can hear the music blasting as they walk up the driveway. As soon as they walk in Gabe bee lines for the kitchen. He pours himself a drink proceeds to snort a line of coke and drag Dean to where everyone is dancing. 

Dean repostions them so that Gabe can keep dancing but now he can have a clear view of Cas. He watches the blue eyed man pour himself a rum and coke in a red solo cup. Cas leans against the counter and looks around. Dean half dances with Gabe. Most of his attention is on looking around at taking everything in. There’s a girl with a long dark hair standing by the staircase her eyes are on Cas. He doesn’t like it. 

Another song comes on. Gabe keeps dancing and Dean notices a man walk into the kitchen. The man has brown curlyish hair and he tries to not look at Cas, oh man does he try but Dean sees him look. He wants to grab the guy by the back of the neck and slam his head into a curb. Dean doesn’t move. He keeps half dancing with Gabe and keeps his eyes on the two who are watching Cas. 

A young boy with dirty blond hair excitedly rushes up to Cas. Castiel must know him because they start talking immediately. Dean keeps an eye on them and the surrounding area as Gabe blissfully dances. After about seven songs and Gabe still dancing with the same amount of energy, Cas makes his way onto the dance floor with a cup in each hand. Cas nudges Gabe in the direction of another person who he quickly starts dancing with. Dean is handed a cup and follows Cas out of the room. 

“Thanks.” Dean takes a sip of the drink Cas handed him and holds back choke, the drink is strong. 

“I figured you suffered enough.” Cas chuckles as they walk into a room where karaoke is happening. 

He suddenly wishes he was back in the dance room with Gabe. The room is lined with couches, there's bean bag chairs scattered around, a coffee table in the middle riddled with drugs and a karaoke machine set up in the only unoccupied corner. They plop down on the couch in front of the coffee table. Dean sets his drink down not planning to drink anymore of it. The kid starts making and rolling a joint. A new person steps up to start singing. 

“Who was that boy you were talking to?” 

“Samandriel. He’s one of Gabe’s dealers. He’s alright.” Cas takes a long drag off the joint then offers it to him. 

Dean shakes his head. He’s not trying to become impaired while being around Castiel. If anything happens to the kid while he’s around it will be his brother’s head. Cas leans back and draps one arm on the back of the couch while the other brings the joint to his lips again. Dean’s eyes drift to the doorway and that’s when he sees her. The girl with long dark hair is sitting on one of the bean bag chairs that’s by the door. 

“Are there a lot of Gabe’s dealers here?” Dean leans back onto the couch but makes sure to keep the girl in his line of vision. 

“Eh, not really. There’s a few but I don’t actually really know anyone here. I’m not even sure whose party this is.” Cas blows his smoke out the side of his mouth. 

~~~~~

Dean starts considering sucide after the seventh drunk karaoke singer. Almost anything would be better than sitting in a room full of stale smoke hearing a terrible rendition of Toxic by Britney Spears for the third time in a row.

“Alright I can’t sit here anymore.” Dean hauls Cas up and nudges him in the direction of the door. 

He looks down as they pass the dark haired girl. The women makes eye contact with him and smirks before looking away. Sometimes when a person likes someone they look at them in a certain way. One could compare to the way a hungry person looks at a piece of meat. Wanting to devour them whole. This lady isn’t looking at Cas like that, no, she’s looking at him like she wants to cut him up. 

They end up in the backyard. Samandriel is sitting by the fire pit and waves Cas over. Dean tells him to go and he’ll catch up in a second. There’s a porch swing off to the side. He takes a seat on the swing and waits. The seat presses his gun into his back and oddly enough it reassures him. Dean never thought that he would be so comfortable with a gun attached to him at all times, but it almost feels right.

He times it. Five minutes is all it takes before the man who’s been watching Cas walks out onto the porch. The man doesn’t notice him. Dean watches the man walks into the yard but he takes a wide berth around the fire and instead goes over to where people are hanging out by the pool. It’s another two minutes before the girl walks out. She doesn’t get too close to Castiel but she does linger around the fire. 

Dean gets off the swing when the girl moves ever so slightly closer to Cas. Something is afoot and he isn’t a fan of it. He positions himself behind Cas’ chair. The kid leans his head back, eyes slightly bloodshot, he smiles at Dean. It’s the most relaxed that he’s ever seen the kid. 

“How ya feeling kid?” 

“Good. I’d hate to admit it but maybe Gabe was right.” 

“You needed to take a stick out of you ass?” Dean looks up from Cas because he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. 

Instead of answering him Cas falls into a pile of giggles. Dean’s barely seen the kid smile, let alone laugh and never a laugh like this. It makes a small smile creep onto his face. He sees the girl move even closer. He needs to find Uriel. Once again he hauls Cas up. 

“Hey, man, calm down.” Cas says seriously before giggling again. 

~~~~~ 

He finally finds Uriel and Gabe in a room on the second floor. Cas flops down onto a bean bag chair and stares up at the ceiling. Dean walks up to Uriel and stands next to him. 

“I think we should leave.” 

Uriel shakes his head. “Gabe isn’t going to leave yet.” 

“Well he’s going to have to get over it.” 

Uriel turns to look at him and narrows his eyes. “Why?” 

Dean leans in. “There’s two people watching Cas.” 

Uriel quickly looks away from Dean. The muscled bodyguard looks to Gabe who takes a drag from a joint before leaning forward and snorting a line of coke off of a girl's stomach. Uriel lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. He then shoves his hand into his pocket. Uriel shoves the keys to the car into Dean’s hand, but before letting go he pulls Dean in close.

“Get him out of here and home safe. The heir can never be at risk.” Uriel whispers before pushing Dean away. 

While slightly puzzled by his statement Dean nods. He shoves the key into his pocket and walks over to Cas. 

~~~~~ 

As the two of them walk to the car Cas babbles on about about how trees are giant weeds. He gets Cas into the passenger then walks around to the drivers side. As he grabs the drivers side door handle he feels something jam into his back. He freezes. 

“Drop the keys and we won’t have any issues.” A feminin voice threatens. 

“And what will happen when I drop the keys?” Dean asks to by some time. 

Cas looks over at him and raises his eyebrows in confusion. ‘Don’t move’ Dean mouths to the kid. Cas’ eyes shift slightly to the person behind Dean. 

“I’ll pick them up. You’ll get the fuck out of here and I take the car.” 

“Well my friend is inside the car. You can have the car just let him get out.” 

“No deal, buddy.” The women shoves the gun harder into his back. 

He didn’t hear the gun lock. So either it isn’t and he has a few seconds to unarm her or the gun is already locked and all she has to do is pull the trigger is he moves. 

“You know lady,” Dean quickly turns and grabs the womens arm, “I don’t take being threatened too kindly.” He pushes her wrist back until he hears a snap. 

The women yelps in pain. He hears a crunch behind and turns to see the man only a few steps away. What’s so fucking important about Cas that two people are trying to get him. How the hell did they even know he would be here? Without a second thought he reaches to his back and pulls out the gun. 

“You going to shoot me? You’re merely a guard dog. A disposable pawn in the Novaks game. Is shooting a man worth it? These people don’t give a shit about you.” The man snarls as he takes another step. 

Dean rolls his eyes. He’s getting real sick and tired of pretentious assholes talking to him as if he’s pathetic, some idiot that doesn’t know how to make choices for himself. He pulls the trigger and the bullet tears through the man's left leg. The man crumbles to the ground and Dean gets into the car. 

“You didn’t have to shoot him!” Cas yells, eyes wide.

“They wanted to kidnap you Castiel.” Dean slows to a stop at a red light, he hears the sirens approaching. 

“You could have just gotten into the car. You didn’t need to shoot him.” 

“My job is to keep you safe.” 

“So?” Cas challenges. 

“So as long as you’re safe, I don’t think that you have the right to question my methods.” 

He can feel Cas staring at him. He can feel the anger coming off of the kid. Dean doesn't understand. Cas is the youngest son in a family of mobsters. In a family that is defined by violence and he’s mad that he shot a man to keep him safe. The man isn’t even going to die. Dean made sure to shoot to wound not to kill. 

~~~~~

Cas ignores Dean for the rest of the ride. He walks ahead of him while going into the house. The kid doesn’t say anything as he walks up the stairs. Dean watches him and rolls his eyes. Cas will get over it. Dean did what he had to and if he had to kill the guy to jeep Dean safe then Cas would have to accept that and get over that too. He might act all tough and like he doesn’t care about anything but work, but at the end of the day he’s still only eighteen. 

“What’s all that about?” Michael’s voice cuts through the silent house and scares the crap out of Dean. 

He jumps slightly and turns to look into the kitchen where Michael is standing at the counter. 

“What are you doing standing in dark?” He demands. 

“Eating chocolate cake.” Michael shrugs and shoves a forkful into his mouth. 

“In the dark?” 

“I don’t judge you.” 

“Are you kidding me?” Dean chuckles dryly, “that’s all you do! That’s all anyone in this house does!” 

Michael smirks. “Maybe that’s true. I do believe I asked you a question though.” 

“Oh you know teenagers. Always mad about something.” Dean waves a hand dismissively and starts walking away. 

“Right. That is Castiel. Always mad about nothing.” 

“Yeah he’s pretty temperamental.” Dean calls over his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry. Uriel will tell me everything that happened at the party. He always does!” 

That sounds fine to Dean. Uriel will know what to say and what not to say to Michael, unlike him. He walks up to his room and the moment of him shooting that guy in the leg replays in his mind. The thought that he knows that he would kill a man for Cas to keep him safe hits him in the face. Sure he knows he so easily would keep Cas safe because Cas’ safety is Sam’s safety, but it’s still a jarring thought. Dean would take a man’s life and he knows it. What’s he supposed to do with that information?


	5. The Silent Treatment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little warning. There's some graphic deceptions of violence going on in this chapter. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I had a little writers block with this chapter but I like the final outcome. I am going to try to make the chapters little longer as we continue with the story. I'm still getting back into the swing of writing again and putting in the right details and descriptions. Anyway, I hope you all like it!  
> Love,  
> Mess

Dean walks through the front door sweaty and slightly out of breath from his jog. He goes into the kitchen to get some water but before he can walk through the doorway Michael comes out of nowhere and blocks his entrance. Dean takes a small step back, startled. 

“What are you stalking me?” Dean huffs out. 

Michael rolls his eyes and stretches out his arms to completely block the doorway. The dark haired man’s biceps flex under his black t-shirt. Not like Dean notices or anything. 

“You wish I cared about you that much, Winchester.” 

There’s a light in Michael’s eyes that Dean hasn’t seen before. It’s freaking him out. The man seems excited. The look reminds him of the look a predator gets when staring at prey. Why the fuck would Michael look at Dean like that? 

“You shot a man,” Michael smirks, “that’s why Cas is mad at you.” 

“Uh, yeah.” 

“And you broke some girls wrist.” 

“You aren’t mad that he went to a party?” Dean asks, confused by everything. 

“What do you think I am? A robot?” Michael leans forward a bit, it makes him take half a step back.

“I don’t know how to answer that.” Dean answers slowly because he feels like he has somehow ended up in a trap. 

Michael glares at Dean in response. “Like you said. He’s eighteen. He’s going to go to parties. By the time Gabe was eighteen he had already had his stomach pumped three times. At least I don’t have to worry about that with him.” 

Dean looks around to see if there is anyone in the vicinity that can get him out of this weird situation. He thinks he likes it better when Michael is ignoring him instead of hovering over him. 

“Uh,” Dean clears his throat, “is there a question here? Is there something you need from me?” 

Why are his palms sweating? How tall is Michael, because Dean is six one and Michael has a few inches on him. He’s not that much taller than him but still taller. He’s never been this close to the oldest son. Michael’s eyes are shockingly blue, a different shade than Cas’, and they contrast his dark hair beautifully. 

“No. Not at the moment anyway. I just wanted to let you know that I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you to shoot someone.” Michael stands up straight and lightly pats Dean’s cheek before walking away from him. 

Dean is left standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He brushes his knuckles against the cheek that Michael touched then shakes his head. This whole experience so far has been strange. No one expects to suddenly become a part of a mob, but the interaction he had with Michael was the strangest thing he has gone through yet. He finally walks into the kitchen to get some damn water and is able to clear his head. 

~~~~

At ten Dean is in the conference room standing behind Castiel. There’s another meeting today, apparently it’s supposed to be a short one. Dean’s just happy to be around some people. Cas has been giving him the cold shoulder all morning. The kid hasn’t said more than five words to him all day and it’s starting to drive Dean crazy. Gabe is the last one to come in. The blond is wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and sits down heavily in his chair. 

The meeting does end fairly quickly. Most of it focused on talking about their dad going away for a week. 

“Okay. We just have one more thing to discuss. Castiel you are dismissed.” 

Dean follows Cas as he starts walking towards the door. 

“Dean. You stay.” 

Cas whips around. “What?” 

“Castiel, please don’t make this into something.” Michael says smoothly. 

The kid stares at Michael and then at everyone else. Dean can see the thoughts racing around his head. Finally Cas’ eyes land on Dean. The glare that Cas gives to Dean is full of anger and resentment. Cas swiftly turns around and slams the door as he leaves. 

“Alright, so as we all know last night a kidnap attempt was made on Castiel,” Michael states once Cas is out of earshot, “we all know who was behind it.”

Everyone nods. Dean has no idea who was behind it. 

“Who?” He questions as he walks back to stand behind Cas’ chair. 

“The Daemons,” Raphael answers, “they are a revival mob. They mostly run upstate but recently we’ve been encroaching on some of their territory. They’ve made it clear a few times that they aren’t happy with us, but nothing as insane as trying to steal Castiel.” 

“We haven’t responded to any of their threats, but this can’t go unanswered.” Michael further explains. 

“Not to worry. Gad and I already found the two that Dean wounded. They will be dealt with tonight. As far as an actual response to the pathetic Daemons I have written a list of ideas.” Lucifer takes out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolds it. 

“I don’t think that Cas will be happy if you kill those people.” Dean informs Lucifer. 

“Oh wow. Golly. You’re right Dean he probaly won’t - I don’t give a fuck! They tried to snatch him off the street. So. They die.” Lucifer rolls his eyes and straightens out his paper. 

“Dean, Cas is young,” Michael carefully says the words, “he hasn’t quite accepted all of the responsibilities that our life has. He will get over it. We all did, but this entire conversation is to be kept from him. You don’t speak a word of this to him.” 

“I don’t want to lie to him.” 

“Aw you don’t want to lie to him,” Lucifer says in a mocking tone, “get the fuck over it.” 

“I don’t care if you lie to him or not. Just don’t tell him what this is about.” Michael folds his hands together. 

Dean doesn’t know how he wouldn’t tell Cas what happened without lying. So he doesn’t think what Michael said makes any sense. 

“So, back to me and my ideas before I was so rudely interrupted,” Lucifer clears his throat, “we kill a couple of their dealers. We get a person on the inside and blow up one of their factories. We decapitate the two that tried to take Cas and leave their heads on their front step-” 

“We aren’t trying to start a full blown war here Lucifer.” Michael interjects. 

Oh no that’s not at all what we would want. What the fuck is this? Dean makes sure to not show any outward reaction but he is shocked. He knew Lucifer was crazy and dangerous. This though, this is a whole other level. If he wasn’t concerned for Sam’s life before, he sure as hell is now. 

“Why aren’t we going to war? They took it too far this time. They tried to steal our little brother. I say we go to war and we destroy them.” Raphel says sternly. 

“If I only I cared what you thought.” Michael doesn’t even bother to look at Raphael.

“All in favor of destroying the Daemons. Please raise your hand.” Raphael pointedly looks at Michael as everyone except Dean and Michael’s hands go into the air. 

“Oh brother you seem to be confused. This is not a democracy. It’s a dictatorship.” Michael turns his cold eyes to Raphael. 

Everyone's hands lower back down at Michael’s hard tone. 

“ _I_ don’t want to go to war. So we aren’t, end of discussion.” Michael waves a hand at Lucifer to continue. 

Dean is pretty sure he blacks out because he doesn’t remember nearly half of the gruesome ideas Lucifer pitched to retaliate with. He does know what they decide on. Apparently the daughter of the head Daemon has a ranch with horses. So Lucifer and Gadreel are going to, well as they put it, ‘get rid of’ the horses. Dean no longer thinks that Lucifer is the only crazy one, they all are. 

Dean is the last one to leave the room and he is walking behind everyone as they all make their way out of the basement. He’s thinking about what to say to Cas if he asks what was discussed after he left. He also thinks about the decision that lead him to this. Not that he regrets it or anything. He’s just thinking. 

“You okay there big man?” 

Dean didn’t even notice Michael fall back and start walking next to him. 

“What are you worried about me?” Dean smirks. 

Michael scoffs and leans slightly closer to him. “I’d have to care about you to worry about you.” His hot breath brushes against Dean’s neck. 

Dean’s heart tries to jump through his chest for some reason. He swallows and wipes his hands on his jeans. What is this? What is Michael doing to him. Why is Michael doing it to him? Does he know what he’s doing? Why would he do it? Is Michael more like Gabe than he shows? Just a flirt? 

“Remember what I said. Don’t tell Castiel about what we discussed after he left.”

Michael picks up the pace and walks ahead of Dean. 

~~~~~ 

He’s a little over half way back to the library when Cas jumps out of a doorway in front of him. 

“Jeez! What is with you Novaks and lurking?” Dean questions while walking around Cas. 

“So what did they talk about?” 

“Oh so you ignore me all morning but as soon as you want something from me I get to be graced with your voice?” He maneuvers around the kid and runs a hand through his hair.

“Yes. Now what did they talk about?” Cas keeps pace with Dean as they walk to the library. 

“Nothing.” Dean shrugs hoping that the conversation will be dropped easily. 

“Oh nothing? You all just sat around and stared at each other for over fifteen minutes?” 

Dean never gets what he wants, especially easily. He’s also not surprised that Castiel timed how long they continued the meeting once he left. 

“No. We didn’t stare at each other.” 

“So then what was talked about.” 

“It’s not important.” 

“Well if it’s so unimportant then just tell me.” Cas steps in front of Dean, and the belligerent look on his face reminds him of an angry toddler. 

Dean tries to walk around him but Cas moves in front of him. He tries to get around again but the kid blocks his path again. Dean breathes in and sighs heavily. 

“Why does it matter?” As soon as the question is out of his mouth, it’s like a storm cloud passes over Cas’ eyes. 

“Why does it matter?” Cas takes a step closer, “why does it matter that you. _You_ someone who hasn’t even been here for two weeks got to stay in a meeting that I was told to leave? Wow, let me think why that would matter.” He taps his finger on his chin to feign thinking.

“It was just about what happened at the party.” 

“What about the party?” Cas’ eyebrows furrow together, “what were they all just praising you for shooting someone?” 

“No.” 

“Then what was it?” Cas demands. 

Dean almost expects Cas to stomp his foot. He doesn’t want to lie to the kid but he knows that he can’t tell the truth either. He hates lying. 

“They just told me that anytime you go to a party I have to be there, and that I can’t get high or drunk.” He wipes his palms on his jeans. 

Cas purses his lips as he stares at him. “Right.” He hums and then turns around and walks the rest of the way to the library. 

~~~~~~ 

Castiel has been ignoring Dean for hours now. He’s slowly walking back to the library after eating a snack in the kitchen. There’s really no rush to get back to the silent room. He’s walking down the hall not too far from his destination. Gabe’s head pops out from a doorway on the left. What the hell is with these brothers? Are they all just always in lurk mode? 

“Come here.” Gabe demands.

Dean walks over to the door and manages to slip through the small opening Gabe leaves him. He walks into the room, which seems to be a spare closet. There’s a grey pitbull that is sitting on a blanket in the corner eating chicken out of a bowl. 

“I didn’t know you guys had a dog.” The dog looks up at the new voice before quickly going back to eating. 

“We don’t. Michael has a stupid no pets rule, but I found her on the side of the road and look at the wittle face! How was I supposed to leave that wittle face behind?” 

“Can’t you take her to a shelter?” He questions. 

Gabe gasps in shock and holds a hand to his chest. “Do you know what happens to dogs if they don’t have an owner that comes for them? They get timestamped. Do you know what that means?” He drags a finger across his throat. 

“Okay. So no shelter. What’s your plan then?” 

“To hide her and finally have a dog. This house is huge we can get away with it as long as I have some help. Uriel has already agreed and is out getting supplies as we speak. I just need your help to make sure she doesn’t get found out by anyone else.” 

“I don’t, Gabe- I’m not much of a dog person. Or animal person.” 

“What are you heartless?” Gabe asks while looking disgusted. 

“No,” Dean sighs, “they just don’t like me so I don’t like them.” 

Gabe rolls his eyes and kneels down. “Come here girl.” 

The blond pats his legs and the dog comes running over her tail wagging incredibly fast. She shows her stomach and as Gabe rubs it the dog licks his face. Gabe grabs Dean’s arm and pulls him onto the ground. The girl rolls over to Dean and starts licking his hands. 

“She likes everyone. So you’ll help me hide her because she’s an amazing puppy and to pay you back for your help and silence I won;t shave your head in your sleep.” Gabe continues to pet the dog as he talks. 

“Oh, thanks, you’re so generous.”

“How’s it going with Cas and not telling him what was discussed.” Gabe settles more onto the floor with the dog. 

“Well he’s not talking to me.” Dean moves and sits against the wall across from Gabe. 

“Ah, the silent treatment,” Gabe nods in understanding, “Mikey, Raph, and Cas are all really good at that. I think there was a time that they all went over a week without talking to me.” 

“What should I do?” He absentmindedly stretches a hand towards the dog. 

“Just wait it out. He’ll get over it eventually.” 

“I don’t know, man. He’s pissed and I can’t say I don’t understand why.” 

“Castiel has yet to face some of the harsh realities of our life and until he does he’s going to get left out of things. He is either going to grow up or get left behind.” 

Dean sighs and leans his head back. He can understand where Gabe and the others are coming from, but Dean is the one that has to constantly be around the kid. It’s much easier to not care about how Cas is feeling when you aren’t getting all the dirty looks and silent treatment. 

~~~~~

Cas glances up ever so slightly when Dean walks through the door. 

“You’re going to have to talk to me eventually.” Dean states. 

Cas gives no response, instead continuing to type away on his computer. Since he is just going to be ignored, he decides to explore the library, something he hasn’t really done yet. He’s looked around a bit and read a few books but he hasn’t truly investigated. While walking through the enciclopedia section he starts to think.

He thinks about how he shot a man. Maybe he should stop thinking about it but also there’s probably a select few pivotal points in your life. It seems like two things that would be on the list of pivotal moments are joining a mob to protect someone, and shooting a man’s leg. Michael seemed so _impressed_ by the fact that he shot someone. Michael. What a strange man. 

Dean shakes his head as he makes his way through the non-fiction history section. Why is he thinking about Michael? Michael has no business being in his brain. Just walking around and disturbing things. Why is he disturbing things though? Why does the thought of Michael stir something up inside of him? There’s eno reason for that either. Michel’s piercing blue eyes flash through his mind and the look they had in them. As if Michael wanted to devour Dean. His heart rate starts to pick up. The blue eye’d man’s hands flash across his brain, the image of them gripping the side of the door frame. He bites his lower lip. 

He runs a hand down his face as he turns a corner and ends up in the religious section, which is disturbingly large. Dean knows nothing about Michael. He knows what the man looks like, that he is the oldest son in this family, that he’s slightly taller than himself, and basically nothing else. It seems like Michael is more of the father figure than their actual father, which is something that Dean can relate to. 

There’s really no reason for him to be thinking about Michael this much. Dean is starting to get annoyed with himself and even with Michael, because why is the tall asshole occupying this much of his brain? He makes himself think about something else. Anything other than Michael and his dark chocolate hair. He starts thinking about the position he’s in. It’s not the first time he’s thought about it but a new thought comes to him as he looks at the poetry books on the second level of the library. 

Sure, Dean knows how he ended up here but he doesn’t know why he was picked. There’s got to be a shit ton of people who work for them. Why was Dean picked to be Castiel’s bodyguard and not someone they already knew? Wouldn’t it be better to pick someone they knew they could trust instead of some random guy off the street? Truthfully, the thought never occurred to Dean before. It would have made more sense to make Dean a dealer or work in one of the factories. Instead they put him in charge of the youngest brother. That’s when something else comes to him. 

Last night Uriel called Cas the heir. The stoic man said to protect the heir. What the fuck does that mean? The heir. What a weird fucking word to use. As if they live in the eighteenth century and Cas is royalty. Since he’s protecting the heir he should probably get used to shooting people. Dean huffs out a dry chuckle at his own thoughts. There’s basically only two and a half months left of this. He doubts that he is going to have to kill anyone or anything like that. 

He grabs a random book out of the religion section as he heads back to where Cas is. As he sits down across from the moody teen he looks down to the cover. The title is written in red font. DESTINY: THE TRUTH BEHIND FATE AND HER SISTERS. Dean rolls his eyes but cracks open the book, it’s not like he has anything better to do.


	6. The Yacht

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello!  
> I know it's been awhile since I updated but I went on vacation for a week so that set me behind. I did bring my laptop with me but ended up not writing at all hahah. Sorry loves. I hope this chapter makes up for it and that you all like it. I'm not going to give anything away. I really liked writing it though. The ending especially. I'm just so excited about this fic and the possibilities and things I have planned. I love hearing from y'all so much so let me know what you think!!  
> Love,  
> Mess

It’s been four full days of the silent treatment from Castiel and Dean is about ready to punch the kid in the head. He’s been talking and texting with Gabe a lot which is the only thing that has saved him insanity. Dean is shocked by how close he has become with Gabe, but it’s kind of nice to know that at least one person doesn’t hate him. The other day he snuck the dog out of the house to take her to the vet. All things considered she actually is an amazing animal. Gabe has named her Sunflower or Sunny for short, but he mostly calls her dog. 

Sunflower is quiet and well behaved, for the most part. She got away from Uriel on a bathroom trip the second day which led to Uriel and Dean chasing her for over twenty minutes. He has no idea how they didn’t caught but thankfully they didn’t. He walks into Sunflower’s room, yes she has her own room with her own king sized bed and everything, to feed her breakfast. The dog greats him at the door and sits patiently while he fills up her bowl. As he watches her eat he thinks about Cas. 

He has no idea how to fix the situation between them. Gabe told him to just wait it out but Dean doesn’t think that he can handle anymore of the silent treatment. He thinks back to when he was younger. What would he do when he and Sam would fight? Dean can’t even remember a time he fought with Sam. When they were kids they didn’t really have time to fight, they were too busy trying to survive. The only fight he can remember is when their dad went missing and Sam didn’t care. That fight was one of the last times the brothers spoke to each other. 

With a heavy sigh he stands up and fills the water dish with fresh water from the bathroom. Maybe Gabe is right and all he can do is wait it out. That fucking sucks. Dean is a fixer, or at least he tries to be. To think there’s nothing he can do to get Cas to just talk to him is like having an annoying itch on his foot. He goes back to his bedroom to get changed out of his pajamas. Usually he would head down to the kitchen to make breakfast for himself and Castiel, but he isn’t hungry and why should he make breakfast for a brat that won’t even tell him what he wants to eat? Instead of going to the kitchen Dean walks out the back door and starts the long trek to the shooting range. 

~~~~~~

After the shooting range he goes on his run. Then he makes himself a sandwich for lunch. After that he changes into clean clothes and goes to do laundry. After doing a few loads he finally goes to the library. Cas is sitting at his desk, like always. The kid doesn’t even look up when Dean walks through the door. 

“So are you ever going to talk to me?” He wants to add that Cas is acting like a child but he holds back. 

“Are you ever going to apologize?” Cas still doesn’t look up from the laptop in front of him. 

Dean frowns slightly and his eyebrows furrow together. Apologize? What the fuck does he have to apologize for? “You want me to say sorry for saving you? Okay, Cas I’m so sorry that your brothers are right about you.” 

Thats gets the teens attention. His head snaps up and his eyes are like stone as he stares through Dean. 

“What the hell does that mean?” Castiel demands, his lips are pressed tightly together. 

Dean considers running out of the room, but hiding can only last so long. He’s sure the shorter kid will find him eventually. He’s an idiot. He should have just kept his mouth shut. Maybe he can get himself out of this. He just has to be smart about it. 

“Uh, what?”

“My brothers are right about me? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Castiel stands up with so much force that the chair falls backwards.

“Who said that?” Dean looks around the empty room, except for Cas and himself. 

“You! You dickhead!” 

“Are you sure? I mean, it doesn’t sound like something I would say. I don’t- do you even have brothers?” Dean knows this whole playing dumb thing is not working but he’s too deep in it now. 

He watches about fifteen different emotions pass through Cas’ eyes. The kids hand falls on top of the stapler on the desk and his hand closes around it. 

“You’re an incredibly infuriating person. It’s no wonder you and Gabe get along so well.” The annoyance is running off of Cas in rivers. 

“You know what is annoying? Being ignored by a punk because he can’t get over the fact that I shot a person to save his life. That’s really annoying. Do you realize what your life is? I don’t get why this has upset you so much. It makes no fucking sense to me.” 

Cas turns his head slightly to look away from Dean. He can see the teens chest moving from his heavy breathing. His knuckles turn white around the stapler. Cas blinks a few times before looking back to Dean. 

“Maybe my brothers are right about me, but you’re just like them.” Cas spits the last part out and shoulder checks him as he walks out of the room. 

Dean throws his head back and then runs his hands down his face. Well, fuck. That went absolutely terrible. Should he go after him and try to fix this or should he let him have some space? He has to make his decision quickly, aftering weighing the choices he jogs out of the room. As soon as he steps out of the room he runs into Lucifer. He stumbles back. Lucifer looks at him with disgust. 

“What could you possibly be rushing to?” 

How can one person be so unlikeable? It shouldn’t be physically possible. 

“Cas.” 

“Oh, yeah. I heard he’s pissed at you. He’ll get over it.” Lucifer shrugs and starts walking. 

“Everyone keeps saying that, but he’s not getting over it.” Dean says half annoyed and half exasperated. 

Lucifer stops and half turns so that he can look at Dean, but also to make it clear that Dean does not have his full attention of concern. 

“Why do you even care that he’s upset?” Lucifer’s face makes it clear that he doesn’t believe Dean is genuine. 

“Because for two more months I am going to spend every day with him.” 

“Yeah and then you’ll never see him again. If I were you I would focus on my job and not try to get approval from an eighteen year old.” 

“Well, thank god I’m not you.” Dean snaps back. 

He doesn’t wait for a response from the slim blond. Instead he goes off to find Cas. He can’t wait until the end of the two months if only to be away from Lucifer. The prick gets under his skin so easily and he not only hates that he’s over it. 

~~~~~ 

He finally finds Cas after forty five minutes of searching. The kid is sitting under a tree in the backyard. 

“I’ve been looking for you.” He calls out when he is about ten feet away. 

He doesn’t get an answer. Dean sits down next to the blue eyed teen. The tree trunk isn’t large, so while they are sitting next to each other they can’t see the other's face. 

“I don’t want you to hate me.” Dean says truthfully. 

“I don’t hate you,” Cas sighs, “that would mean I hate my family. Which I don’t.” 

“I don’t know what to do Cas. I don’t want you to be upset with me for two more months. I can’t apologize though, because I’m not sorry.” He can feel Cas shift beside him. 

“I know what they say about me. I know what they think about me.” Cas’ voice is slightly muffled, and he sounds sad. 

“I shouldn’t have said anything about your brothers. That was fucked up.” Dean rests his head on the trunk. 

Silence falls between them. Dean waits. As he waits he looks up at the leaves and branches. He watches the sunlight shift and filter through them. 

“I’m not an idiot. I know what my life is. I know what it will be. Does that mean I have to like all aspects of it? I didn’t even get a choice,” the kid sounds defeated, “I just- I hate senseless violence. I hate it. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Does that make me naive? Pathetic?” 

It’s clear that Cas has thought about this many times. Dean continues to look up at the leaves. He wasn’t expecting a heartfelt conversation, but he should probably stop expecting anything from this family. Dean isn’t much of a heart to heart guy. Between Gabe and Cas though these boys are really trying to make his life a chick flick. 

“I don’t think it makes you either of those things. I can understand not liking senseless violence.” Dean wants to say more but he doesn’t think it’s his place. 

“But?” 

“But nothing.” 

“Oh come on. There’s a but in there.” 

Dean mulls over his thoughts for a second. He doesn’t want to say anything quickly and end up biting himself in the ass. “But,” he says slowly, “you’re brothers are never going stop thinking of you as a naive kid as long as you continue to get this upset about things you don’t approve of.” 

They sit in silence for a long time after that. Dean thinks maybe he fucked up. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything dammit. 

“You’re right.” Cas states. 

Dean’s fairly sure that if he was standing up he would fall over from shock. “Oh. You think so?” 

“Yeah.” Cas stands up and wipes his hands on his jeans. 

He gets up and walks next to the kid. Maybe an apology would be nice but he isn’t going to ask for one. He’s used to not getting a sorry and it wouldn’t change anything. Dean isn’t that much older than Cas but it’s weird to see what a few years does to mature a person. He looks over at Cas. Dean’s own childhood was, well, it wasn’t the best and if judged by someone else they would probably call it bad. The Novak’s life is so fucking weird and their dad is barely around. Cas’ childhood must have been not the best either. 

~~~~~ 

Michael walks into the dining room looking slightly frazzled. Everyone is already sitting down and eating. The oldest brother puts his hands on the back of his chair. 

“Tomorrow family bonding,” there’s a collective groan from the table, “everyone has to go. Meet in the living room by eight AM and be ready to be on the yacht all day.” Michael reaches forward and grabs a roll. 

“Eight in the morning? You can’t be serious Michael.” Gabe looks disgusted. 

“I am serious.” 

“A day of rest and relaxation shouldn’t start at such an ungodly hour.” 

“Yeah and if we want family bonding we should probably keep the time frame as short as possible so it doesn’t turn into family fight time.” Lucifer rolls his eyes while shoving a forkful of peas into his mouth. 

“There won’t be any fighting tomorrow because if there is I’ll shove my foot up the ass of whoever started it.” 

“Well I feel closer already.” Raphael states seriously. 

Dean has to give it to Raphael, it was actually funny. He holds back his laugh and continues to eat. Michael sends a glare to Gabe, Lucifer and Raphael before grabbing another roll and walking away from the table. 

As soon as Michael is gone Gabe grumbles under his breath about eight in the morning being a ridiculous time of day to even exist. 

~~~~~ 

Gabe is laying on the couch with his head in Dean’s lap. Cas’ head is resting on his shoulder. It’s five minutes to eight and Michael is no where to be seen. Everyone else was in the living room ready to spend the day on a yacht, something Dean never thought he would do in his life, by seven forty. Lucifer, Gadreel, and Rapahel are on the other couch. Zachariah is standing in the doorway. Metatron isn’t coming because Raphael said he gets burned easily. Castiel whispered that it was because no one likes Metatron. Uriel isn’t coming because he said he has an eye doctor's appointment, really he is going to be watching Sunflower. 

Gabe, Uriel and Dean discussed last night who would stay behind. Uriel said he didn’t mind. Once Gabe left the room Uriel told Dean that he better watch Gabriel just as well as he watches out for Castiel. Dean promised he would. Everyday Dean’s opinion on who the most dangerous person in this house is changes. He’s thought about it though and he thinks that Uriel would do anything for Gabe, even if that means hurting one of the other brothers. The loyalty that flows off of Uriel is almost tangible. 

Lucifer looks at his watch and rolls his eyes. He’s done it about six times already. 

“It’s not eight yet.” Raphael states annoyed. 

“Two minutes.” Lucifer responds. 

“Please don’t, Luc. It’s just one day. Can you get through one day without starting something?” Raphael pleads without looking up from the book he’s reading. \

Michael walks into the room right as the clock sifts to eight. Dean rouses the men on either side of him to get up. The walk to the car and the entire drive to the boat are silent. The radio plays on a low setting in the car but it does nothing to take away from the lack of conversation. Dean isn’t sure what he would prefer; silence or fighting. Both are uncomfortable in their own right.

Zachariah parks the car and they all walk to the dock. Dean’s mouth drops open slightly when he sees the yacht. He knew that yachts are big but he didn’t know how big. Of course everyone else has seen the boat before so they aren’t shocked. He follows everyone onto the boat. 

~~~~~ 

Dean’s sitting on the deck in the shade. Gabe is laying in the sun and Michael is sitting in the sun but doing something on his laptop. Gadreel and Lucifer are swimming in the ocean. Raphael is inside somewhere reading and Castiel is asleep on a couch. He has no idea where Zachariah is. Is this what family bonding is? Being in the same area but ignoring each other the entire time? It doesn’t make much sense to Dean.

“Dean come lay out with me! You could use some color.” Gabe calls out. 

“Nah, I’m good over here.” He lifts his legs up and rests them on a chair. 

“That’s literally so rude.” 

“And you’re literally so dramatic.” 

Gabe rolls over onto his stomach, lifts himself onto his elbows and raises his sunglasses. “You love me and all my drama.” The blond winks before laying back down. 

“Yeah, it’s what made me fall for you.” Dean chuckles softly and rolls his eyes. 

He looks over and sees Michael’s head quickly move. Was he staring at him? Weird. On that note he stands up and stretches. Dean heads inside to see if Cas is still sleeping. Raphael looks up from his book as he walks to the area where the middle son is reading and the youngest is sleeping. Raph nods at him before looking back down at his book. Cas is still sleeping, the blanket fell off him slightly, Dean covers him back up before heading to the bathroom. 

He walks out of the toilet and is greeted with Zachariah waiting outside the door. The platinum blond looks up from his phone at Dean and crosses his arms over his chest. 

“Uh, you need to get in there?” Dean moves and pints behind him to the bathroom. 

“No. I want to talk to you.” 

“Okay,” Dean eyes the man, “were you listening to me pee?” 

“No!” Zachariah rebuffs looking offended. 

“I mean you were standing pretty close so you must of heard something.” Dean mumbles. 

“Anyway,” Zachariah says harshly, “I don’t trust you.” 

“Well I don’t trust someone who listens to other people pee.” Dean shrugs and starts to walk away. 

His arm is grabbed and Zachariah walks around to stand in front of him and block his way. 

“I’m serious Winchester. You may have everyone else fooled but not me.” 

“Guess I have to try harder than.” Dean responds dryly. 

Zachariah stares back Dean, unamused. “I’m keeping my eyes on you smartass. You’re going to fuck up and when you do I’ll be there.” 

“Is there a threat in there somewhere?” 

“What?” He asks surprised and shakes his head slightly, “the whole thing was a threat.” 

“How? None of it was threatening. I’ll give you creepy, but threatening? No.” It’s proving to be incredibly easy to get under Zachriah’s skin which is highly amusing.

“Just- ugh,” Zachariah sighs heavily, “I’ll be watching you!” He turns and walks off annoyed. 

“And listening!” Dean calls after him. 

~~~~~

After lunch Michael they should all watch a movie. Cas sits on the ground and pulls out his phone. Dean goes to sit on the floor as well but Gabe pulls him onto the couch. Gabe stretches out on the couch and lays his head on Dean's lap. Raphael sit in the chair he was reading in earlier. Lucifer and Gadreel sit on the loveseat. Zachariah and Michael pull over extra chairs to sit on. 

Somehow the only movie they have on the yacht is Twilight: New Moon. Which raises some questions from Dean but he keeps them to himself. Dean’s never seen the first twilight so he’s kind of lost. He ends up zoning out after about fifteen minutes. Dean moves his hand as he thinks. He thinks about all the good movies they could be watching. These people are fucking rich and the only movie they have on their yacht is twilight. 

He stops moving his hand and then feels a nudge. Dean looks down to see his hand in Gabe’s hair. He must have been running his hand through Gabe’s hair without noticing. Gabe nudges his head into Dean’s hand again. Dean starts playing with the blond’s golden locks again. A small smile settles onto Gabe’s face. 

Dean looks up and looks over. Michael is staring at him which makes him hesitate and stop playing with Gabe’s hair for a second. When he stops Michael looks away. Michael wasn’t staring at him blankly. He was staring at him intently, he was watching him and what he was doing. All morning Dean’s felt like Michael has been looking at him, but he kept brushing it off. Maybe Michael has been looking at him and watching him though. Why, though? Is Michael watching him like Zachariah is? He knows that not all of them trust him and he can understand why. He also can’t understand because has he not proven that he takes his job seriously? 

He looks over to Lucifer who is asleep. Lucifer doesn’t like Dean but he doesn’t stalk him either. The hazel eyed man shakes his head ever so slightly. He knows that he should stop trying to understand these people, but he can’t. Isn’t it human nature to try and understand others? 

~~~~~

The movie ends and Dean wakes Gabe up. Gadreel pushes Lucifer off the loveseat to wake him up. Dean is surprised when Lucifer doesn’t even so much as give Gadreel a dirty look. 

“Well that was utterly terrible.” Raphael announces as he stands up and stretches his legs. 

“What do you think we should do then?” Michael asks, sounding slightly annoyed. 

“Ooo! Let’s play never have I ever! Raphy get the tequila and shot glasses!” Gabe jumps up excited. 

Michael makes a face. “No let’s do something else.” 

“I’m down for never have I ever. It’s always a good time when you know Gabe is going to get shit faced.” Lucifer stands up. 

“Yeah, if we ask the right questions we can have him sauced in twenty minutes.” Castiel chimes in while putting his phone away. 

“You’re both _literally_ so rude.” Gabe whines while pushing a table over. 

“There are so many other things that we can do.” Michael tries to shut down the game that is about to happen. 

It’s pointless though because the others are already setting up shot glasses, getting beers out of the cooler, and putting chairs around the table. Dean ends up sitting between Gabe and Cas with Michael ending up directly across from him. 

“Alright,” Gabe shouts happily, “Everyone knows the rules. Someone starts by asking another person a never have I ever question. If the person has done it then they have to take a shot or a sip from their alcoholic drink of choice. If we find out someone lied they have to take two shots.” 

“Maybe we should have an example question.” Lucifer offers. 

“We all know-” Michael tries. 

“Oh, of course!” Gabe cuts Michael off, “go ahead Lucifer.”

“Okay, so a never have I ever question goes as such. Gabriel,” Lucifer looks at Gabe with a smirk plastered to his face, “never have I ever done a line of coke off a strippers ass.” 

“Well then you’re missing out.” Gabe smiles before taking a shot of tequila. 

Gadreel, Lucifer, Castiel and Rapheal all laugh. Michael rests his head in a hand and sighs. Dean thinks that Michael needs to loosen up. 

“Okay, my turn! Dean. Never have I ever been in handcuffs.” 

Dean shakes his head before taking a sip of beer. 

“Oooooh! Pleasure or trouble, Winchester?” Gadreel questions. 

“One hundred percent for both!” Gabe laughs. 

Dean doesn’t say anything as the two continue to rag on him for a bit. He’s not going to confirm or deny anything. He looks up once they are done to see Michael side eyeing him. Michael looks away and licks his bottom lip. 

“You’re turn Dean-o.” Lucifer urges. 

“Uh, I don’t know. Lucifer, never have I thrown something at a car.” 

Gadreel immediately starts laughing. Lucifer rubs his chin before taking a shot. Dean can’t say he’s surprised. Lucifer is one crazy asshole. 

“More like threw something through the windshield of a moving car, right Luc?” Raphael taunts, causing Gadreel to double over from laughter. 

“We don’t need to talk about it.” Lucifer shakes his head. 

“Um, yes! Let’s please talk about it. I've never heard this story.” Cas leans forward, interested. 

~~~~~ 

After about two hours of playing never have I ever everyone’s a little tipsy, except Zachariah. Dean isn’t sure if anyone even asked Zachariah a question. It was actually a fun time. Dean found out a decent amount about everyone. It was two hours full of stories and laughter. If Michael wanted family bonding then he definitely got it because of Gabe. 

He found out that Gabe used to sell fake IDs. Cas has never dated anyone. Raphael has fought a cop. Gadreel set off fireworks inside someone's house. Lucifer has not crashed but one car but five. Michael broke his own nose by walking into a glass door. It was an eventful two hours. He feels like they didn’t ask him too many invasive questions, but he also doesn’t know how much they know about him already. The Novaks have made it more than clear that they’ve done an extensive search on him. 

Dean tries to not think about that too much. He’s watching from the side of the boat as everyone except Michael and Zachariah swim in the ocean. Dean hopes that none of the tipsy idiots start to drown. That would be a real bummer. Dean’s been with this insane family for about a month and he’s never seen them collectively get along so well and for such a long amount of time. Gadreel smiles and pushes water towards Cas before looking up at Dean. He knows that Cas said Gadreel is just as crazy as Lucifer but there’s something about the brown haired man that makes Dean trust him. Gadreel waves to Dean and motions for him to come into the water. Dean shakes his head, the ocean freaks him out. There’s too many _things_ in it.

~~~~~

  
  


They are about to dock and Dean is trying to find Cas. He gets to the corner of the hall that leads to the bathroom but stops before turning because he hears arguing. Eavesdropping is wrong so he turns around to leave, but then he hears Michael’s voice. His body turns back around and he flattens himself against the wall. It’s wrong though and he shouldn’t be doing this. 

“Don’t act all innocent I’ve seen what you’ve been doing all day and Gadreel told me what happened during the movie. It’s disgusting.” Lucifer harshly says. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Michael scoffs. 

Lucifer huffs out a small laugh. “Yeah, okay and I’m not an asshole. Michael I’m serious if you don’t stop staring at him it’s going to make me rip my own eyes out.” 

“I’m not staring at anyone. No get out of my way.” 

Dean gets ready to run away but he hears some ruffling around. 

“You can have anyone, Michael. Just pick someone else. Why does it have to be Winchester. Pick literally anyone else to be infatuated with.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” Michael says dismissively, “I- your imagination is crazy. You- I’m not going to stand here and listen to your ridiculous accusations.” 

“Gadreel said that during the movie he was playing with Gabriel’s hair and you were looking at Gabe like you wanted to murder him.” Lucifer continues to push back. 

“Gadreel is an idiot who should learn to keep his mouth shut before someone sews it closed.” The oldest sternly replies. 

“Threaten him again and see what happens,” it’s the first time Dean hears genuine anger from Lucifer, “I don’t know what you see in the nimrod but seriously Michael just put your dick in anyone else. I’ll find someone else.” 

“I want nothing to do with Winchester, but if I did, you have no control over what I do and who I fuck. It’s funny that you think you do.” 

Dean hears footsteps start walking towards him so he takes off in the opposite direction. So it wasn’t just in his head. Other people have noticed Michael looking at him. Was Michadel jealous of Gabe? Does Michael like him? They don’t even know each other. There’s no way that Michael would like him. So does he just want to fuck him? There’s no way. 

He goes to the front of the boat and ends up finding Cas standing there, looking at the water. Dean walks up to the kid and stands next to him. It doesn’t matter if Michael does like him or want to fuck him. Nothing is going to happen because Dean has no interest in Michael. Or his serious eyes and muscley arms. Dean has no interest in Michael’s deep voice and large hands. 

“You okay?” Cas’ voice cuts through his thoughts. 

“Yeah,” Dean nods, “I’m good.” 

“Okay. You’re just breathing kind of heavy.” The kid side eyes him. 

Shit. Dean focuses on his breathing and slowing it down. He’s just breathing heavy from running. That’s it. That has to be it because nothing else would cause him to breath heavy. 

~~~~~

Dean walks out of his bathroom, towel around his waist. Everyone went to get a shower as soon as they got home. As soon as he walks into his room he’s greeted with Michael leaning against his dresser. 

“Hello?” He questions, not moving. 

“Hi.” MIchael responds. 

The dark haired man looks so casual and effortless. It pisses Dean off because he does not feel causal. He feels nervous and on edge. He hates that he feels like that just because Michael is standing across from him. Why the fuck does he feel like this?

“Is there a reason you’re in here?” Dean makes himself not stutter, he refuses to let Michael know he’s nervous. 

“Yes there is.” 

Dean waits for a few seconds. Ready for an elaboration. Michael offers nothing which makes him want to kick the man in the nuts. 

“Okay. Well why are you here?” 

“You really have worn lingerie before?” Michael’s face is emotionless as always, but there’s a vein in his neck throbbing. 

“You came in here and waited for me to get out of the shower to ask me that?” 

Michael’s only response is to nod. 

“Um. Hmm,” Dean feigns thinking, “get the fuck out of here.” He walks forward to his dresser and starts getting clothes. 

“I’m just trying to have a conversation. No reason to be hostile.” 

Dean rolls his eyes. Yeah right Michael is just trying to have a conversation. He’s trying to be an ass is what he’s trying to be. 

“Seriously can you get out I want to get dressed.” 

“Go ahead. I won’t stop you.” Michael shrugs. 

Dean stares back and Michael and weighs his options. He can make Michael leave, or he can go into the bathroom to get dressed, and lastly he could say fuck it and get dressed in front of Michael. What kind of game is Michael playing right now? Dean hates mind games. Michael’s still looking at him, unwavering. He sets his clothes on the bed knowing he’s about to do something that is going to change things. He’s about to do something he can’t go back from. 

As he loosens his grip on the towel in his hand he thinks about picking his clothes up and going into the bathroom. He steadies his nerves. Michael won’t make him feel nervous, afraid or like a pussy. He refuses to give this dick that power. Dean looks directly at Michael as he lets the towel slip out of his grip and fall around his ankles. 

Michael’s eyes scan over Dean quickly. The blue eyed man’s face stays inexpressive but the vein is throbbing faster. He keeps his eyes trained on Michael’s face as he gets dressed. His heart is beating so hard and fast that he feels numb. His hands are sweating to the point that he is surprised he can hold anything. 

Dean wonders if Michael’s heart is beating faster. He hopes it is, and that thought makes him feel strange. He notices Michael hand twitch while resting on the dresser. Dean grabs his shirt off the bed. It's the last item he has to put on. It sounds like his heart is inside his ear. He pulls his shirt over his head. For a few seconds he can’t see Michael. When he can see again Michael is standing in front of him. Dean didn’t know a person could move so quickly and silently. 

Blue eyes stare into green ones. Michael’s hands fall on top of Dean’s. Together they pull the shirt down. Dean lets go of the shirt and his hands fall to his sides. Michael rests his hands on Dean’s hips. Suddenly the room is spinning. He feels light headed when Michael tightens his grip. Dean tries to focus on his breathing and keep it steady but all he can think about is the man staring at him. 

Michael opens his mouth slightly and Dean can feel his warm breath on his lips. Dean’s fingers twitch. He doesn’t know what to do. Thoughts are racing around his head he can’t focus on one. He tries to pick a thought but he can’t. The only thing keeping him planted in reality are the hands gripping onto his hips. Briefly, he wonders if there’s going to be bruises on his hips. 

“Why have you gotten into my head, Winchester?” Michael asks lightly, his warm breath runs across Dean’s face. 

Dean feels like he just ran a marathon while at the same time feeling like his whole body is stuck in molasses is drowning in it. 

“I don’t know.” He finally manages to get the words off his tongue, if Michael’s hands weren’t on him he’s fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to keep himself standing. 

“You’ve been driving me crazy.” Michael’s voice is softer than Dean thought possible for the stern man.

Michael lifts one hand off his hip and raises it to his face. The taller man runs his thumb across Dean’s top lip then cheekbone before resting on the side of his neck. Dean hates that a chill runs through his body. Michael smirks end bites his bottom lip which makes Dean’s heart try to leap out of his chest. Blue eyes run over Dean’s face as if Michael is thinking. 

“Were the handcuffs for pleasure or trouble?”

Dean blinks a few times. Then he moves his hand so that it touches the one on his neck. He looks down at the hand on his hip. It’s like being brought out of being hypnotized. He shakes his head before raising his hands and pushes Michael’s chest to get the snake away from him. Michael thinks he can just slither himself into Dean’s brain. Fuck that. He knows what the asshole is trying to do. Michael has the audacity to look shocked. 

“Get out.” Dean runs his hands through his hair. 

“Dean-” 

“I said get out.” Dean grabs his phone off his nightstand and goes to the bathroom without looking at Michael. 

He locks the door before walking over to the bathtub. Dean sinks to the ground and rests against the tub. Michael wanted more information about the lingerie and handcuffs to make fun of him and use it against him. That’s the last thing he needs. One more thing for Michael to have over his head. He will never let Michael have _that_ power over him. During never have I ever he explained that the lingerie was because of a dare, that was a lie. 

Sighing heavily Dean rests his head on his knees. Fuck Michael. He’s a cruel asshole just like the rest of them. There’s only two more months left in this insane asylum. For two months he has to make sure Michael gets nowhere near him and then he never has to see these freaks again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh also! I have an idea for a nice guy Michael smut fic so I'm hoping to get that out soonish. If that's something you want then keep your eye out for it. <3 If it's not something you want then idk just don't read it then xD


	7. The Newspaper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all sorry for the wait! I feel like it hasn't been that long since I last updated but I have like no concept of time lol. Anyway I love yall and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Idk why but I always get nervous before posting. I don't want yall to be disappointed or hate it aaaah!  
> Love,  
> Mess

“Get up. Get up. Get up. Dean, get up!” Someone harshly whispers while shaking him. 

Dean cracks his eyes open to see Uriel standing above him. “What?” He yawns and rubs his eyes. 

“Get up. I can’t find Sunflower!” Uriel grabs Dean’s arm and yanks him up and out of bed. 

Dean would be impressed by the strength if he wasn’t worried about his arm popping out of its socket. He stumbles to his feet and throws on a shirt before following Uriel out of his room. 

“Where have you already looked?” 

“Everywhere! I can’t find her. If we don’t find her before Michael or Lucifer gets up then it’s going to be a shitshow.” 

“You couldn’t have looked everywhere because if you did you would have found her.” 

“Just start looking! I’ll go this way you go that way!” Uriel snaps before walking off. 

Dean sighs and walks off in the opposite direction. His lungs sure do get a workout while living here. He ends up on the fourth floor. The house is eerily quiet at four in the morning. He walks down the hall listening for any sign of Sunflower. At the end of the hall there’s a door open slightly. Dean leans close to the door and hears something moving. Slowly he pushes the door open. 

“Fuck.” He whispers as he sees Lucifer sleeping on the bed that’s facing the door. 

Quickly he scans the room. His eyes land on the open closet door. Sunflowers tail is sticking out of the door. 

“Sunflower.” He whispers, but the dog doesn’t do anything. 

He rubs his temples before going on all fours and crawling into the room. Thankfully the floor is carpeted. By some grace of god Dean makes it to the closet without making any noise. He looks over to Lucifer, to make sure that he’s still soundly sleeping before crawling into the closet. 

“Sunflower.” He whispers again this time the dog looks up at him. 

She starts wagging her tail and drops the shoe she was chewing on. Sunflower gets up and starts licking Dean’s face. 

“Shh. Shh. Sush.” Dean tries to get her to stop and be quiet. 

Sunflower settles down and Dean peaks out of the closet. Lucifer is still sleeping. He wipes the sweat from his brow and grabs the shoe that is half chewed. Dean lures Sunflower out of the room with the shoe. As soon as they are out of Lucifer’s room he picks the pittie up and quickly goes to her room. He gives her the shoe and heads back to his room to text Uriel that she’s back where she belongs. 

Uriel ends up calling Dean. Gabe’s bodyguard asks where he found the dog. When Dean tells him that she was in Lucifer’s room chewing a shoe Uriel groans for at least two minutes before hanging up. 

Dean looks to his bed then at his alarm clock. There’s no point in going back to bed now. He decides to get his day started. 

~~~~~ 

As Dean finishes tying his shoe Cas walks into his room. 

“Emergency meeting in Michaels office. Let’s go.” 

Dean looks at his phone for the time. It’s only six thirty. 

“You know. Do I need to be there? I can go start breakfast.” Dean shrugs. 

Cas looks up from his phone with a confused look. “Why? Just come on.” The kid walks out without looking back. 

Damnit. He doesn’t want to be around Michael. It’s been two days since the incident and so far he’s done a great job at avoiding the oldest Novak. Begrudgingly he follows Cas to Michael’s office. They are the last one’s to show up. Lucifer and Raphael are glaring at Gabe. Gabe is looking around the room innocently. Cas sits down and Dean stands behind him. He looks over to Uriel who is wiping his hands on his pants. Michael stands up and closes the door to the office before going back behind his desk, he doesn’t sit down. Dean keeps his eyes to the side of Michael. 

“Okay, _Gabriel,_ I’m only going to ask this once. Where is the dog?” 

“Dog?” Gabe chuckles, “I don’t even know what a dog is.” 

Dean wants to put his head in his hand, because what the fuck Gabe? That’s the best the blonde could do? 

“I haven’t seen any dog.” Dean tries to help. 

“Well I didn’t ask you, did I?” Michael snaps, looking to Dean quickly before turning his attention back to Gabe. 

Uriel clears his throat. “I would know if Gabe had a dog Michael. He doesn’t.” 

“You’re a liar,” Michael puts an accusatory finger at Uriel, “I like you Uriel but you’re a fucking liar when it comes to Gabe.” 

Uriel doesn’t say anything back. Dean bites the inside of his cheek. He doesn’t know how they know there’s a dog in the house but as long as they haven’t actually found her everything should be okay. 

“If there’s no dog then who did this?” Michael reaches under his desk and pulls out three shoes all chewed. 

“Me,” Gabe answers without missing a beat, “please don’t judge me, I’m already ashamed.” Gabe lowers his head into his hands and makes crying sounds. 

Dean bites his tongue to hold in the laughter. Uriel purses his lips together and scratches his eyebrow. Michael sighs and raps his knuckles against the desk a few times. 

“Oh, really? Zachariah!” Michael calls out. 

Dean’s heart stops beating as Zachariah walks into the room and has Sunflower on a leash. The asshole closes the door and drops the leash. She runs up to Gabe first who doesn’t look at anyone before petting her. Sunny then goes to Uriel who flicks his eyes to Michale before leaning down and petting her. When Uriel stands back up Sunflower waddles over to Dean. Everyone’s heads turn to Dean. Sunflower barks when Dean doesn’t immediately start petting her. He kneels down and gives her a few scratches in her favorite spot before standing back up. Satisfied, Sunny sits beside Dean. 

“You, have helped them hide _it_?” Michael asks with a fire behind his eyes. 

“ _Her_ name is Sunflower.” Dick. Dean doesn’t call him that out loud but he sure as fuck wants to. 

“So not only do I have one idiot that will lie for Gabe but now I have two.” 

“Uriel, is smarter than you, you cold hearted ass.” Gabe angirly snaps. 

Castiel leans over his chair and starts petting Sunflower. “I can’t believe you hid her from me.” 

“We are getting off topic here people,” Raphael stands up, “there is a dog in the house, again, because Gabe snuck one in, again, and we all agreed to no pets. Ever.” 

“I never agreed to that.” Cas and Gabe say in unison. 

“Why can’t we keep her? She seems well behaved.” 

Raphael makes a weird squeaking noise. “Well behaved? Do you see the shoes?” 

“Yeah they’re ugly.” Cas says as he gets out of the chair and sits on the floor next to Sunflower. 

Raphael makes the squeaking noise again. “How dare you.” 

“Get rid of her, Gabe” Michael says, ignoring the drama between Cas and Raphael. 

“Why? She doesn’t bother you. You didn’t even know she was here until a few stupid shoes got chewed. Shoes that we can easily replace. None of you have to worry about taking care of her and if you don’t want to see her then you don’t have to.” 

“You can’t just do whatever you want.” Lucifer interjects. 

“Oh that’s rich coming from you.” Uriel responds. 

Dean’s eyes widen and he covers his mouth to hide the smile. Lucifer stands up and turns to Uriel. Slowly Uriel rolls up the sleeves of his button down then flexes his biceps. Dean would be more impressed if he hadn’t beaten up Uriel before. 

“Ooookay. Let’s maybe all take a breath.” Gadreel slowly moves so that he is standing between Uriel and Lucifer. 

“Why can’t we keep her?” Cas asks as Sunflower licks his face. 

“Because I said so.” Michael responds. 

“That’s not a reason.” Cas says back. 

“She can be trained. Unlike some people in this room who destroy other people’s belongings when they get a little upset.” Gabe rolls his head to look at Lucifer briefly before looking back at Michael. 

Michael rubs his eyes and through his head back while sighing then stands up straight. “I don’t have the patience for this today. I’m not dealing with this. I don’t want to hear any fighting or drama or bickering or anything from any of you. All of you leave me alone. As long as she doesn’t tear up any of my shit I don’t care what happens to her.” He flops heavily down into his chair. 

‘But-” 

“I said shut up and get out.” Michael interrupts Raphael and spins his chair around so the back is facing them. 

With a shrug Dean picks up the leash and starts walking towards the door. Cas stands up from the floor and Gabe gets up as Uriel rolls his sleeves down. 

“Castiel and Dean be ready to go on a business trip in two days.” Michael says right as they walk out of the room. 

Dean holds back from rolling his eyes. Seems like avoiding Michael is going to be harder than he originally thought. Which sucks. Uriel takes the leash from his hand.

“I think this is a bunch of bullshit,” Lucifer grumbles, “keep the mutt away from my shit.” 

“As long as you keep your bad attitude to yourself you psychotic bitch.” Gabe replies with a smile. 

“I love that we can’t get along for more than one day. It’s just so much fun.” Gadreel sarcastically says before walking off ahead of everyone. 

~~~~~

It’s midnight. Dean and Cas finished packing their bags for the week long ‘business’ trip around ten. Cas insisted on them watching a movie off the list then fell asleep halfway through. Now Dean has a sleeping Cas and Sunflower to his left. He really didn’t think that Cas would be an animal person. Yet here the kid is cuddling with the dog. Dean shakes his head as he looks back at the tv. If you had asked Dean at any point in his life if he would let a dog sleep on his bed he would have said no without hesitation. Sunflower is different, an exception if you will. 

He pauses No Country for Old Men and carefully gets out of bed. Dean doesn’t like waking people up. He feels bad so he's going to let Castiel sleep in his bed for the night. As he brushes his teeth he thinks about the events of today. Okay, he thinks about Michael. Why was Michael in such a bad mood today? Was it because of him and what happened the other night? No, that’s a conceited thing to think. As if Den could get to Michael that much. After all it's not like Michael has any real feelings for him. Michael just has some kind of psyhical attraction to him and that’s an easy thing to get over, just fuck someone else. 

What happened the other night doesn’t matter. Dean has no feelings, at all, for Michael and Michael has no real feelings for him. Simple. Easy. No big deal. Dean’s overthinking everything. He shouldn’t even care about trying to avoid Michael because that’s silly. Michael probably isn’t even thinking about Dean anymore. Dean will go on this trip things will be normal and fine. Then in less than two months Dean’s life will be back to normal. He can forget about even meeting the oldest Novak brother. 

Dean rinses his mouth out then dries his hands. He changes into pajamas, turns off the light and gets back into his bed. Everything is fine. 

~~~~~

Dean is sitting in the passenger seat of the Range Rover wishing he was dead. He’s thought of at least four different ways he could kill himself and six different ways he could take the driver out. Zachariah is driving them to the town they will be doing business in. It’s some place near Santa Monica. The entire time that they’ve been in the car Zachariah has been talking about the last meeting of the homeowners association. They’ve been in the car for an hour. An hour. 

His head is leaning against the window and he’s dreaming of stabbing a needle through his eye. Dean has no idea how Michael and Cas are sitting through the most boring lecture in the entire universe, but somehow they are. He also doesn’t know why he has to sit in the front seat with the worst person on planet earth. Yet here he is and the Novaks get to sit in the backseat. 

“So then Jane brings up the drought plan again. As if we haven’t talked that topic to death. It’s like going in circles with that women.” 

“Is that what you’re trying to do to us now? Talk us to death.” Dean questions without lifting his head to look at the blond. 

The car falls silent for a few minutes. Dean cherishes the quiet something he hasn’t know for over sixty minutes. 

“You make my life a living hell.” Zachariah says disgusted. 

“I’d rather be lobotomized with a rusty screwdriver than have to listen to you talk about your sad meeting any longer.” Dean responds without missing a beat. 

Cas starts laughing which makes Dean smirk. He hears a smacking sound and Cas trying to stifle his laughter but still chuckling. Dean takes the opportunity to turn the radio on. Any sound is better than Zachariah’s voice. 

The rest of the ride is spent in silence, other than the radio. They’re at the hotel. Dean is getting the bags out of the trunk as Cas leans against the car watching him. Michael and Zachariah went inside to check in. 

“I hate Zach too and seeing you go back at him is hilarious. You should be careful. He’s annoying sure, but Michael keeps him around for a reason.” Cas tells Dean and moves out of the way so Dean can shut the trunk. 

“I’m not too concerned about him.” Dean starts pushing the trolley with the luggage to the entrance. 

A bellhop tries to come over but Dean waves him off. The two find a place near the elevators to wait for Michael and President annoying, Zachariah. Dean still doesn’t even know why they are here. He hasn’t asked but he also hasn’t been told. He’s learned that if he isn’t told something then asking is just going to lead to a bunch of nothingness. They don’t have to wait long for the other two. They take the elevator up to the penthouse suite. Dean didn’t even know that hotels had rooms this big. 

“Put your stuff in your rooms and hurry up. I want to go to lunch. I'm starving.” Michael says before grabbing his suitcase and walking off. 

~~~~~

Dean’s waiting in the car. The other three are inside of a warehouse. They are getting a tour of it to see if they want to purchase it. Lunch went by fairly normally. Michael told them what the plans for the week are. He was right, Michael already moved on from feeling any type of attraction to Dean. Michael had paid almost no mind to Dean all of lunch, he didn’t ignore him but he wasn’t staring at him like the day on the yacht. 

He wishes he had known how long they were going to take. If he had then he would have brought something else to do. Dean can only be on his phone for so long before getting bored. While shoving his phone back into his pocket he looks around the block. There’s a man sitting at the bus stop reading a newspaper. Which isn’t strange, but two buses have come to the stop and he’s still sitting there. Dean can’t see much of his face but he tries to memorize as much as he can. He looks around the rest of the block seeing if there’s anything else slightly strange happening. 

Nothing else seems out of place. Dean doesn’t recognize the man. Shortly after Dean notices the newspaper guy, the three come out of the warehouse with the realtor. When they walk out the man lowers his newspaper a bit. Dean keeps his eyes on the man and his hand on his lower back. The guys get into the car and nothing happens but Dean’s gut is telling him that something strange is happening. 

“How was the tour?” Dean asks as he drives to a house that they are going to tour. 

“It was fine.” Michael answers. 

“Not exactly what we are looking for.” Zachariah further explains. 

“What are you looking for?” Dean questions out of curiosity. 

“Not really any of your business.” Michael responds. 

Dean rolls his eyes. Nothings his business but he’s still somehow in the middle of everything they do. 

~~~~~ 

After the house tour. They toured three more properties. Dean kept his eyes peeled but nothing was out of place at any of those locations. They walk into the penthouse and all Dean can think about is sleep. It’s been a long day. 

“Okay, everyone get changed into something nice. We are going to dinner.” Michael announces. 

Dean sighs lightly as he walks into his room. While he is hungry he really doesn’t want to go out. What’s wrong with staying in and ordering a pizza? Also he doesn’t have anything nice to wear. Dean’s not exactly a ‘nice’ clothes type of guy. He opens the door to the room he is staying in to see a garment bag laying on the bed and a box.

Confused, he walks over to the bag and opens it up. There’s a pair of black trousers and a grey button down. He then opens the box to a pair of black dress shoes. Everything is in his size. Maybe Cas did this. Dean has no idea but he is thankful for it because without these he would have nothing to wear. 

After everyone gets dressed they head back down to go to the car. Zachariah and Cas end up walking slightly ahead of Dean and Michael who for some reason is walking next to him. Michael moves slightly closer to Dean as they make their way to the valet. 

“That outfit looks great on you.” Michael says lowly. 

Dean looks over at the man for a second. He then looks down at his clothes and quickly back to MIchael. 

“Did you get these for me?” Dean asks, he doesn’t know how to feel if Michael did get them. 

Michael winks and doesn’t say anything as he picks up his pace. Dean feels a mix of annoyance and also… charmed? How dare Michael slightly charm him. He has absolutely no right to even try and charm him. 

When they make it to the restaurant they get seated immediately. It’s the nicest place Dean’s ever been to. He feels out of place and as if he shouldn’t be here. The table that they are sitting at has a direct line of sight to the bar area. There’s something familiar about someone sitting at the bar. The waitress comes over so Dean looks away from the bar. 

~~~~

Throughout the whole dinner Dean keeps his eyes on the man at the bar. He recognized the guy after they placed their order. It’s the man that was at the bus stop earlier. The man looked over at them at least once but Dean felt like he was watching him more than the man was watching them. 

Regardless, Dean still feels uneasy as the check comes to the table. Michael doesn’t even look at the check before placing his credit card down. It’s a power move that Dean has never witnessed before. The food was amazing but it probably would have been easier to enjoy if Dean didn’t feel like some crazy shit was about to happen any second. 

As they get up to leave Dean positions himself so that he is walking directly behind Castiel. He tries to see if the man gets up when they do but he can’t spot him. They make it to the outside of the restaurant and Dean doesn’t see the man anywhere. They must be in the clear. He turns around to ask Zachariah if he wants to drive or if he wants him to drive. The sound of wheels squealing to a stop make Dean spin around. 

He turns to see a black van with the side door open. An arm reaches out and grabs Castiel. Dean lunges forward to try and pull Cas away but before he can reach him the kid is pulled into the van. Dean can feel everything happen quickly and he wishes he can slow down time. The scared look on Cas’ face makes Dean see red. He reaches for his gun as the van starts driving away. He has three choices. Try to shoot out the tires, try to grab onto the door and think of something to do, or get the car and go after them. 

WIth the gun still in his hand he grabs the handle of the door that Cas was just pulled through. The car is picking up speed. Dean runs to try and keep up with it. He slams the butt of the gun against the window. Nothing happens. Fuck. The car is going even faster now. He can’t keep up but he can’t let go. He looks up to see a rack on the top of the van. Dean grabs the bar and pulls himself up onto the roof of the car. An idea pops into his head as flattens himself onto the top of the car while still holding onto the rack. It’s a dumb, stupid idea that most likely won’t work but its the only idea he’s got. He’s already committed to risking his life to save the kid, might as well go all the way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not much of a cliffhanger person but I couldn't resist this time! I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker. I feel like every time I get a really good chapter up the next one just isn't as good. I had a bit of a harder time with this one and getting a good flow and everything. I'm really sorry if it's not good and you don't like it :(


	8. The Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. I know I said I would try to get this chapter out faster but I'm a terrible human being I'm sorry. Would you accept the excuse that I just started a new job? If not that's okay. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter. I hope it's not too unrealistic and still makes sense. If it doesn't make sense then let me know. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.  
> Love,  
> Mess

Dean is currently on top of a moving car. It’s not speeding but it’s definitely moving and being on top of any moving vehicle is a decently scary experience. He pushes those feelings down. There’s no time to think about being on top of a car. Cas is inside the car with someone who snatched him off the street. Dean pulls himself forward a bit so that he’s near the windshield. He takes a deep breath to steady himself because he knows he’s about to do something stupid. 

He moves so that his legs are facing toward the front of the car. With all the force he can muster Dean raises his leg then brings it crashing down into the windshield. The car slows as Deans foot breaks through the drivers half of the window. He takes the opportunity to jump down onto the hood. There’s no one in the passenger seat but the window is still partly intact on that side. Dean does the only reasonable thing there is to do. He switches his gun from his right hand to his left and then punches the windshield. It breaks enough for him to slip into the car through the hole. He slams the butt of the gun against the driver's head. 

The driver’s hands relax around the wheel and the car starts to veer. Dean slams the gun against his head again which causes the man to slump against the seat. He grabs the wheel and turns it towards the side of the road. His heart is pounding as he stumbles out of the passenger seat. As he goes to open the back door he realizes that he can’t open his right hand. Just as he goes to put his gun away the Novaks car pulls up. Zachariah and Michael get out of the car both with pure rage on their face. 

Zachariah opens the door. Newspaper guy is sitting in the back looking shocked and a gun pointed at Cas. 

“If you want even a chance of living you’ll put the gun down.” Michael deadpans to the newspaper man. 

The tone sends shivers down Dean’s spine.The gun is slowly lowered and Zachariah reaches in and yanks Cas out of the van. Cas falls forward and into Dean. He wraps his arm around the kid and the pain from his head starts spreading. 

“Take care of this,” Michael says to Zachariah while looking around to see two cars pulled off to the other side of the road, “and hurry up. The cops are probably already on their way.” 

Zachariah nods and goes over to the drivers side of the van. Michael grabs Cas’s arm and starts pulling him to the SUV. 

“Let’s go.”

Dean shoves his gun into the back of his pants again and opens the door with his left hand. Which is a weird feeling since he is right handed. Michael starts driving as soon as all the doors are closed. Dean rests his hand on his lap, it’s starting to swell. Nothing to worry about… probably.

He turns to look back at Cas. “How are you feeling?” 

A dumb question, but what do you do in thee scenario of someone almost being kidnapped. 

“How do you think he’s feeling?” Michael snaps. 

“I’m just trying to talk to him.” Dean snaps back. 

Michael looks over to Dean, mouth open ready to argue, but then his eyes fall down to Dean’s lap. 

“What the fuck is that?” Michael practically yells as he pulls his eyes away from Dean’s hand to look back at the road. 

“Uh, it’s my hand.” Dean says in an obvious tone. 

“Yeah? No shit! Why in the flying fuck does it look like that?” 

Dean doesn’t understand why there’s so much yelling going on. Doesn’t seem like the loudness is necessary at the moment. Checking on Cas maybe starting the search for a therapist. Those are both necessary things. The yelling? No. 

“I punched the windshield of that car to get in.” 

“Stop saying these things as if they are obvious facts! Your hand is broken! Do you see that? Can you even move it?” Michael makes a u-turn at a speed that is jarring. 

“I mean no, but I’m sure it’s fine.” Dean shrugs. 

Michael looks over to Dean. His face is a mix of confusion, shock and horror. Dean doesn’t know what to say. His hand might be broken but even if it is it’s not a big deal. He did what he had to do. Hands heal. 

~~~~~ 

“What is this? Where are we?” Dean asks as Michael, Cas and he stand on someone's front step. 

“This is an acquaintance's house. He will be able to fix your hand.” Michael rings the doorbell for about the sixth time. 

“We can’t just go to a hospital? It’s late, what if this guy is asleep?” 

“They aren’t asleep and this is more discreet than a hospital.” 

Dean isn’t sure he even knows what that means. Sure, a hospital will ask questions but you don’t have to tell them anything. It’s not like Dean is a minor. Right as Michael is reaching out to ring the doorbell again the door opens. A tall slim lady with fiery red hair is standing in front of them. 

“Is the doctor in?” Michael asks.

The lady moves to the side and motions for them to come inside. Michael leads the way. They end up standing in a living room that looks like something out of a museum. The lady doesn’t come into the living room with them. Castiel sits down on one of the couchs. The kid looks exhausted. 

“Is this going to take long?” Dean questions as he watches Cas blink slowly. 

“Why?” Michael is typing quickly on his phone, he doesn’t look up. 

“Because Cas is tired.” 

Michael doesn’t even bother to look over at Cas, who is clearly trying not to lay down. “He’ll be fine.” 

“Have you ever been almost kidnapped? Because if you haven’t then I don’t think that you get to talk about how he feels.” 

Michael looks up from his phone and at Dean. “If anyone can talk for him it’s me not you. Don’t ever try to speak for him.” He basically grinds out through his teeth. 

“How about I just talk for myself?” Cas says from the couch with his chin resting on his hand and his eyes closed. 

Dean and Michael stare at each other until the redhead walks into the room with another lady following. 

“I should have been expecting this knowing that you were going to be in town.” The young looking girl chuckles. 

“Jane,” Michael sighs and stuffs his phone in his back pocket, “you know I never want to see you under these conditions.” 

Jane smiles as they hug. Dean wonders how the two met. He looks over to the redhead who weirdly reminds him of a lizard. 

“So what happened?” Jane asks. 

Michael walks over to Dean and gently grabs his right arm and lifts it up. No one says anything but Jane and lizard lady both grimace. 

“Did you punch a metal pole?” Jane takes a few steps forward and starts examining Dean’s hand. 

“A windshield.” Dean corrects. 

Jane shakes her head. “Okay, I can fix you up. It’s going to take at least an hour maybe a little bit longer. You gonna stay or come back Michael?” 

“We’ll wait here.” Michael answers as he takes a seat on the couch opposite to Cas. 

Dean follows the two ladies out of the living room. This house isn’t nearly as big as the Novaks but it is by no means small. They go down to the basement of the house which looks like a mini hospital. There’s multiple rooms that are separated by windows. 

“So first we need to get an x-ray of your hand to know what we are working with. That won't take long. Then we will get your hand set and finally in a cast.” Jane leads Dean through the rooms. 

“How do you know the Novaks?” 

“I’m not going to be the one to tell you that,” she laughs, “you can ask one of them. I’ll tell you that I work closely with them. I’ve known them for awhile and you are not the most banged up person I’ve had to fix up.” 

~~~~~

Dean was given drugs before Jane set his hand. They were some fantastic drugs. His body went from feeling chilly and as if he was in shock to warm and floaty. He got a blue cast starting around his fingers and going up slightly past his wrist. Lizard lady leads him back upstairs with her hands on his shoulders. They walk into the living room and Michael quickly stands from the couch. 

“Everything went smoothly. It will be a six week healing process, but his hand will be fine.” Jane says. 

Dean looks down at his legs because how can he be standing on the floor while also floating? Makes no sense. He hears some talking but doesn’t focus on what is being said. He looks up from his legs and sees Cas sleeping on the couch. Lifting up his foot he tries to walk forward because he needs to check on him. Dean successfully lifts his foot up and brings it down but when he tries to settle his foot on the floor the floor disappears. He starts falling forward and puts his arms out to catch himself but something else catches him. 

“You trying to break your arms now?” Michael asks as he pulls Dean up to his feet. 

“Do you ever smile?” Dean looks up at Michael while leaning against the man's chest. 

Someone snickers and Michael narrows his eyes. The blue eyed man lifts Dean up more onto his feet and basically drags Dean over to Cas. Michael keeps one arm around Dean while shaking Castiel awake. 

“That’s rude, that’s so rude.” Dean says while watching Cas jump up from his sleep. 

“Would you shut up for once in your life?’ Michael demands. 

Dean gets as close to Michael’s face as he can, his nose is touching his cheek. “No.” 

Michael turns his head and now their noses are touching each other. Blue eyes stare into green ones. Dean feels an urge to reach out and touch Michael’s sharp jawline. He feels himself falling back before he can touch Michael’s face. Dean uses all his energy to jolt himself forward so that he doesn’t fall back. His head slams into Michael’s. Dean’s knees go out from the force and he feels Michael stumble, but the man keeps a tight grip around Dean’s waist and doesn’t fall. 

“Jesus, Dean!” Michael rubs his forehead with his free hand. 

Dean juts out his bottom lip. “Don’t yell at me.” 

~~~~~ 

He has no memory of the ride back to the hotel. Getting into the hotel and the elevator ride are foggy. Michael is currently trying to get them to go to Dean’s room. Cas already went to his own room. He doesn’t want to go to his room though he wants to get a drink of water. 

“Dean stop being difficult.” Michael groans, his hands are on Dean’s hips as he tries to maneuver him. 

Dean groans back at him. He just wants water. Why is Michael being an ass about it? He’s so tired and he does want to go to sleep, but first he needs water. Dean tries to turn around to head to the kitchen. Michael turns him back around and pushes him closer to his room. 

“You’re the worst.” Dean manages to get out before yawning. 

He gives up and decides to just lay on the floor. That seems like the best choice at the moment. Dean hears Michael sigh before being picked up. Michael carries him to his room and lays him down on his bed.

“Get some rest. Everything that happened tonight won’t stop tomorrow's agenda.” Michael states before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. 

Michael has a nice ass. Dan thinks to himself before finally falling asleep on the luxury mattress. 

~~~~~

Michael is sitting at the island in the kitchen of the penthouse. It’s six in the morning. Cas and Zachariah are still sleeping. Dean is waiting for the coffee maker to finish. His arm still slightly hurts but not much anymore it’s been two days after all. He had asked the day after he broke his hand what happened once he was on the pain meds because he truly remembers almost nothing. It’s hard to differentiate between what really happened and if he just dreamed it. Cas told him that he himself was so tired that night that he doesn't remember much either. He said that he thinks Michael really took care of everything. 

The coffee maker beeps and Dean grabs two mugs from the cabinet. He pours mIchael a cup and slides it across the island to the scowling man who is typing on his laptop. Dean sucks his teeth as he thinks of what to say. He hasn’t been around just Michael since the whole incident happened. Michael has seemed kind of angry lately so Dean doesn’t even know if he should say anything at all. 

He decides to start off delicately. “Everything okay?” 

Michael takes a long slow sip of coffee. He continues to type. After about a minute Dean figures that Michael must have not heard him. He debates asking the question again or saying something else. The best choice is probably to just walk away. Michael is obviously not in the best of moods and with the tension that’s been between them Dean most likely won’t make anything better. After all Dean is the anti-Midas. 

“No it is not.” Michael speaks up as Dean picks up his coffee cup and is about to turn to walk away. 

“Oh,” Dean’s slightly caught off guard by the response, “is there anything I can do?” He’s not sure if that was a dumb thing to say. 

“Not at the moment.” Michael doesn’t look up from his laptop. 

Dean nods and drinks his own coffee. This conversation is not going anywhere. He’s not sure what he was expecting from starting the conversation like that. There’s no reason to feel this awkward. Why does he feel awkward? He doesn’t understand how Michael messes with his mind so much. 

“I haven’t had the chance to thank you for taking care of everything the other night.” Dean blurts out. 

He holds back his eye roll at himself and takes another sip of coffee. Michael stops typing and turns his blues eyes to look at Dean. For one second Dean thinks he sees the annoyance disappear from the man's eyes. 

“It was nothing. There’s nothing to thank.” 

“Okay,” Dean doesn’t agree with that, “I’m sorry if I was annoying while I was drugged out. I don’t really remember much.” 

“Again, it really was nothing. The entire night was,” Michael runs his hands down his face groans, “awful. Out of everything that happened that night, what you did and carrying you to your bed was not what ruined that evening.” 

Dean nods. He feels a flutter in his stomach from knowing Michael not only picked him up but can pick him up. Michael goes back to his laptop and Dean doesn’t know if he should say anything else. He refills his mug and heads out of the kitchen so he can start getting ready to leave. Cas is leaving his room as Dean is walking down the hall. The kid is squinting from still being tired. 

“Ready to take on the day?” 

Cas groans in response as he walks past Dean. He is still slightly concerned about Cas. Everything that happened to him the other night must be fucking with his brain. He’s not going to bring anything up now but maybe when they are back at the Novak house he will suggest Cas talking to someone. 

  
  


~~~~~ 

It’s the last day of the trip. They are heading home tonight. Michael has increasingly gotten in a worse and worse mood over the last few days. It’s to the point that no one can say anything to him without him snapping at them. So it’s been a great trip clearly. Other than Michael’s shitty attitude the week was decently eventful. Cas told him that he thinks everything went well and that this trip will lead to good things. 

Currently he’s packing the car up with everyone's bags. He’s not looking forward to the two hour car ride back to the house. Maybe Michael will sleep the entire way back and then he will just have to deal with Zachariah’s annoying ass. He closes the trunk and walks around to the side of the car to wait for the others to come out. While waiting he spins the keys around his finger. He had insisted on driving this time. Michael walks out of the doors of the hotel alone. Dean raises an eyebrow as the man gets closer to the car. 

“They are going to the bathroom.” Michael explains as he opens the passenger door and sits down. 

Dean taps on the window and Michael rolls down the window. There’s bags and dark circles under Michael’s eyes. 

“Do you know who was behind what happened the other night?” Dean asks, he wasn’t going to but it’s not like Michael can get any more angry. 

“Oh I know who did it.” Michael leans his head back and closes his eyes. 

He knew Michael would find out who was behind it. Those people are not going to have a great rest of their life. When Zachariah and Cas walk out of the hotel he goes around to the driver’s side of the car. 

~~~~~

The car ride goes smoothly. Michael slept for most of it, Cas read, and Zachariah briefly tried talking before giving up and going on his phone. As Dean pulls into the driveway of the Novak mansion Michael sits up straighter, fixes his hair and cracks his knuckles. Dean looks over to see Michael’s poustre show anger and his face show no emotion. 

Dean parks the car. As he goes to put the car in park Michael reaches over and holds Dean’s hand to stop him. Michael turns so that he can see into the backseat. He doesn’t move his hand off of Dean’s. 

“Zachariah did you text everyone?” 

“Yes. Everyone is already waiting in the conference room.” Zachariah’s face is pure seriousness.

“Good. You’re both coming with us,” Michael looks at Cas and Dean, “leave the luggage in the car. Someone can come back out for them. Let’s go.” He lets go of Dean's hand and gets out of the car. 

Michael and Zachariah lead the way to the conference room in the basement. Dean feels his heart rate pick up. Something is about to happen and he has no idea what but he can bet that it’s not going to be a party. He hates not knowing things. Going into the meeting blindly is a little nerve wracking. He has a feeling it's about the kidnap attempt. 

Lucifer, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel and Gadreel are waiting in the room. Cas quickly takes a seat and Dean stands behind him. Zachariah stands to the side of the seat that Michael usually sits at. Michael stands behind the chair and rests his hands on the back of the chair.

“Anyone want to tell me why we are here?” Michael asks while looking around the room. 

“Someone tried to kidnap Cas.” Lucifer states. 

It’s said so easily as if it wasn’t a horrifying experience. Michael nods his head slowly. 

“Exactly. Now when that happened I immediately started thinking who would even try to do this.” 

“Obviously it was the Daemons, they're the ones that tried before.” Gabe says irritated. 

“What?” Cas leans forward as he questions. 

Gabe is sent a couple of dirty looks by others. 

“Oh come on!” Lucifer rolls his eyes, “when are we going to stop coddling him? He’s eighteen for fucks sake.” 

“Coddling? Who the hell is coddling me?” Cas demands. 

“No one.” Michael snaps. 

“Fuck that,” Lucifer laughs, “you all coddle him. Oh don’t tell him this, don’t tell him that. He is ready for this. He isn’t used to it. He doesn’t like it. It’s a bunch of bullshit!” 

“You guys don’t tell me things because you don’t like that I don’t always agree.” Cas interjects. 

“Well, that’s simply crap, Cas. As if we don’t all always argue. The issue is that you don’t like the way life is. You can’t accept simple facts.” Raphael’s tone is clear that he thinks Casteil is an idiot. 

“Enough! This is not what we are talking about at the moment!” Michael shouts. 

The room falls silent and everyone’s attention is brought back to Michael. 

“It was the Daemons that tried this little stunt. What didn’t make sense to me about that was how did they know about this trip and not only did they know about the trip but they knew who was coming.” 

“They know that we are encroaching on their territory. We know they are keeping their eyes on us, especially now that we are planning on coming into their territory.” Gabe says slowly.

“Maybe that could have been a possibility but that is in fact not what happened.” 

“Oh would you just get to the point already! Why are you dragging it out like this?” Lucifer runs a hand through his hair. 

Michael stares at Lucifer for a few seconds before turning to Raphael. “Noami has betrayed us. I forget who said that was going to happen?” 

“What do you mean betray us?” Raphael asks. 

“How did she even know about the trip? She wasn’t at any of the meetings.” Gabe leans forward in his chair. 

“What a fantastic question Gabe. How would she know?” Michael tilts his head slightly to the side as he looks at Raphael. 

“What do you mean betray? Elaborate.” Raphael’s eyebrows are drawn together. 

“She’s working for the Daemons. She’s a filthy sneak and I want her fucking dead. I told you she couldn’t be trusted but you fought me on it. You vouched for her and like an idiot I took your opinion into consideration.” 

“How do you know she’s working for them? Do you have proof? You’ve never liked her so any small chance you can get to get rid of her you’ll take.” Raphael stands up from his chair. 

“I have proof. And if it wasn’t for you and trusting that bitch Cas would have never been almost kidnapped. Months ago! MONTHS AGO! I told you that I didn’t trust her. I never thought she should have been moved up but you insisted you said she has shown nothing but loyalty to us which was not true. Then she moved up and she started asking so many questions about everything. For some reason I put trust in you that you had better judgement on her then me. That will never happen again. Fuck that, fuck you, and fuck her. I want her found and I want her gutted.” 

“Blaming Raph isn’t going to do anything.” Lucifer stands up. 

“He told her things! He told her things after I explicitly told him to tell her nothing.” Michael pushes his chair to the side and moves closer to the table. 

“At the end of the day you decided to keep her in the company.” Lucifer goes back. 

“Why are you defending him?” Gabe asks confused. 

“I’m not defending him. They both fucked up. We need to handle the situation and move on from and make sure it never happens again. We give out our trust too easily.” Lucifer makes a point to look at Dean when he says the last part. 

“He broke his fucking hand to save Cas!” Michael points at the cast on Dean’s wrist. 

“Ooooh so the people you want to fuck get the golden stamp of approval but everyone else must be kept at least twenty feet away from the inside operations.” Lucifer grabs the back of Gabe’s chair and pulls it out of the way so that he can get closer to Michael. 

Dean makes a weird choking noise and Michael gets a crazy look in his eyes. Cas turns to look at Dean. Uriel moves closer to Lucifer. 

“Find. Noami. Rip her heart out of her chest and deliver it to the Daemons front door. We are at war,” Michael starts walking towards the door, “talk to me like that again and I’ll crush you windpipe,” he says to Lucifer, “you and Noami have the same level of trust from me.” He says to Raphael before walking out of the room. 

The room falls silent and Dean doesn’t know what to do with his hands. Raphael leaves the room and slams the door on his way out. Everyone looks around at each other. Dean is no good in awkward situations. 

“So who is Noami?” He asks partially to break the silence and also because who the hell is this bitch. 

“Fucking idiot.” Lucifer rolls his eyes as he leaves the room and Gadreel follows him out. 

“She started as a dealer and she got close with Raph pretty quickly. It didn’t take long before she asked about moving up. Michael is right he didn’t like it and he didn’t trust her. To be perfectly honest I didn’t trust her that much either. She lied a lot about things as a dealer. Raphael stood up for her. She moved up and started working as one of his book keepers.” Gabe explains while biting his thumb nail. 

“Are we just going to act like Lucifer didn’t say that Michael wants to fuck Dean?” Cas asks. 

Dean can feel his face start turning red. He scratches his eyebrow as Cas stares at him. 

“Oh man kid. You’re just clueless to vibes aren’t you?” Gabe asks as he stands up and wraps an arm around Castiel’s shoulders. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that I'm going to try a lot harder to get other stories out then just this one. One because I know that some of you want more and two because I want to write more. I'm not even sure why y'all like my writing I feel like it's not very good. I'm sorry I don't want you all to think I'm fishing for compliments or anything I'm not. I'm just not feeling very confident in my story telling recently. I love and appreciate you all so much and love hearing from you guys. Like I said I'm really going to try to get some more stories out then just this.


	9. The Shooting Range

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all as always I hope you enjoy the chapter! I hope that this story can be an escape from everything that is happening in the world right now. I don't want to harp on it because I know that at the moment I want the media and things I like as entertainment to be a distraction. I will just say I hope you are all safe and if you need someone to talk to I am always here for all of you.  
> Now. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.  
> I know I keep saying I'm working on other stories (yes other Michael and Dean ones) and I promise I really am but this story just comes first for me and I'm not the best at time management sorry. My job is closed now though so I guess I have some more time on my hands, even though I kinda want to get animal crossing lol. Wow this note is not going to age well xD  
> Okay, okay. I'll stop talking so you can get to what you came here for. Tell me what you think of the chapter! Love you all.  
> Love, Mess

Gabriel and Cas walked off before Dean could say anything. He’s standing in the conference room with Uriel looking at him and Sunflower walking around the large room. Uriel isn’t smiling or frowning. He’s simply looking at Dean as if waiting. 

“What?” Dean asks, not knowing what the dark eyed man wants from him. 

Uriel shrugs and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Nothing.” 

“You’re thinking about something. I can tell.” 

“It’s not my place.” Uriel whistles and Sunflower comes over, they start walking towards the door. 

Dean turns to watch Uriel walk away. “Don’t be a dick. Just say what you’re thinking.” 

He opens the doorway but turns so that he is half turned towards Dean. “Listen. I’ve worked with this family for a long time. I know them all and I know them well. You’re a grown man so at the end of the day do whatever you want. But. I would never tell someone that getting involved with Michael in any slightly intimate way is a good idea. He doesn’t,” Uriel pauses for a second and Dean can tell he’s searching for the right words to use, “care about others.” 

“Who said I was even interested in Michael? Just because Lucifer thinks Michael wants something from me doesn’t mean he’s right.” Dean doesn’t know why he feels so defensive at the moment. 

Uriel tilts his head slightly to the side and shrugs again. “Like I said. It’s not my place.”

Dean is left alone in the large room. He feels strange. Almost as if he isn’t in his own body. Michael’s face after what Lucifer said flashes in his mind. The reaction Michael has was not what Dean expected. The oldest Novak basically just gave up. Sure he got mad but he just walked away. He shakes his hands almost as if trying to brush off the situation. Dean heads out of the room and decides to go out to the car. 

He takes all of the bags out of the car and brings them inside. Since he doesn’t know where Michael and Zachariah’s rooms are he leaves their bags in the living room. He takes his own bags up to his room and Castiel’s his. Cas is not in his room which Dean is slightly grateful for. He goes back to his own room and sits on the bed. Everything that happened in the conference room runs through his mind again. Gabriel made it seem like it was obvious that Michael was into him. If it’s so obvious then why does Michael ignore him so much? He remembers the time that Cas thought he and Gabe has sex. The kid was so mad. 

“Fuck.” He breathes out and lays back on the bed, his legs dangling off the side. 

He doesn’t even know if he wants anything from or with Michael. There’s no point in doing anything. It’s not like he has much more time here. He knows he doesn’t want to date Michael or anything like that. He’s sure that Michael is a good fuck and while there’s nothing wrong with a hookup, the fall out would probably make it not worth it. With a sigh he jumps up from his bed and leaves his room to find Cas. His life is going to be so much easier when he isn’t involved with these fucking Novaks anymore. 

~~~~~

Dean’s hair is still damp from his shower. He went through his bags and took his clothes down to the laundry room. He’s not sure where cas is and the kid hasn’t texted him back. The house is quiet. He does some laundry, vacuums the living room and cleans the kitchen. After making himself lunch he decides to go out to the shooting range for some practice. When he opens the door he’s met with the ringing sound of three gunshots going off. He continues to walk to the area where you stand to fire. Michael back is facing Dean as he fires his gun at the target. 

Michael stops firing and Dean starts walking to an area to practice. As he starts walking Michael turns around and takes the headphones off. The man looks tired. His eyes look heavy and his shoulders are slumped. The normal confidence that flows off of Michael isn’t there. Michael always gives off an energy of being in charge and taking no shit. RIght now, his energy is not that. Someone would still have to be missing a few brain cells to try and fuck with Michael, but the energy is just a different. It’s a side of the blue eyed man that he hasn’t seen before. Dean almost thinks it's a softer side to Michael, but he questions whether Michael even has a soft side. 

“You okay?” He’s about five feet away from Michael. 

Michael lets out a soft chuckle. “Doesn’t matter if I am or not.” 

“Why not?” Dean raises his eyebrows in confusion. 

“Because it doesn’t. It never has and it never will.” The headphones are resting around Michael's neck, he’s wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, it’s the most casual that Dean has ever seen him. 

Silence falls between the two as they look at each other. Dean contemplates leaving the building and coming back later. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands. His eyes wander all over Michael’s face and body. Michael takes a small step forward and Dean takes one back. 

“What was that?” Michael asks as his eyebrows furrow together. 

He doesn't know why he moved away, but he thinks that getting close to Michael is a bad idea. Distance is key. He’s decided that doing anything with Michael would cause more issues than to make it worth it. He’s almost only a month left. All he has to do is finish his job, pay off his debt and then he gets his normal life back. Keeping a distance from Michael will keep things easier. 

“Are you scared of me?” There’s an edge of something on Michael’s voice, it almost sounds like hurt. 

Dean brushes that aside. There’s no way anything he could think or do that would hurt Michael. Michael would have to care about him to be hurt by him and he’s made it plenty clear that he doesn’t care about him. It’s weird to think that someone is attracted to you but has no substantial feelings towards you. It’s not that it’s a bad thing it’s just weird. In Dean’s experience most people don’t try so hard just for a lay. Unlike when someone wants to date you, than they will go to lengths to try and be with you but just for a fuck. What does Michael get if he does have sex with him. Is it some kind of weird personal challenge? 

“Are you going to say something or just continue to stare at me?” MIchael’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts. 

“I’m not scared of you.” 

“Then why move away from me?” 

“I think it’s best that we don't get close to each other.” 

Michael’s eyes move to the side and he slides his tongue across his top teeth before taking a breath. The oldest Novak slowly rolls his eyes before looking back to Dean. Despite Michael’s actions clearly showing that he’s annoyed Dean’s heart beats harder for a second. 

“Do you care to explain further?” Michael’s tone has changed from being in a normal conversation to now being in a business negotiation. 

“I just think it would be better for the both of us if we distance ourselves.” 

It’s a strange feeling to feel as if you are breaking something off when nothing existed in the first place. He wonders if Michael has ever been in a real relationship. If he has then Dean bets Michael is always the one to do the breaking up. Michael rubs his thumb across his jawline and quite frankly it’s not fucking fair that he can do these things and cause Dean’s brain to short circut. Novak leans against the counter. 

“Why do you think this? Is it because of the shit that Lucifer said?” 

“Why does it even matter? Why do you care if I want to be around you or not?” Dean snaps out of frustration. 

He notices Michael’s breathing quicken for a few seconds then goes back to normal. The two stare at each other. Dean waits and wishes that he was anywhere else in the world because this is incredibly awkward. It feels as if time is dragging by. He doesn’t know what is taking Michael so long to answer. He wasn’t trying to catch him off guard. Maybe he should just walk away because it doesn’t seem as if Michael is going to say anything any time soon. Before just walking away he decides to put his hands out with his palms up and slightly shrug. 

“What do you want me to say?” Michael asks. 

Dean breathes in deeply through his nose then exhales. He controls himself and doesn’t allow his hands to clench into fists. Why is this man so frustrating? 

“What kind of fucking mind game is this?” He demands, his voice hard. 

“Mind game? I’m not playing any games with you Winchester.”

“Liar.” Dean deadpans. 

“Liar?” Michael chuckles, except it's not a funny chuckle, it's a threatening chuckle. 

“Yeah. You are playing mind games with me. You buy me shit, you try to kiss me, you get close to me and whisper to me but then act like you’re not interested in me and hate. Why? What is the point?” Without thinking he takes a step forward. 

“I’m not trying to play mind games with you.” Michael steps forward and his eyes soften. 

“Then what is this?” 

Michael sighs. “I don’t know. I don’t date,” he says slowly, “and I don’t want to date, but I want to kiss you and I wouldn’t say no to having sex with you.” 

“Don’t you think people's reactions will make it not worth it?” 

“Who says anyone has to find out?” Michael takes another step forward. 

“Why do you even want anything to do with me?” Dean realizes how close he and Michael have gotten and his stomach definitely doesn’t flip.

“Have you looked in a mirror? You’re fucking hot Dean.” 

Dean is pretty sure he immediately starts sweating when Michael says those words to him. He takes a shuddery breath as Michael moves closer until there isn’t any space between them. Michael reaches his hand out and brushes his fingers against Dean’s. Chills run down Dean’s spin from the touch and his heart rate picks up. His eyes flit to Michael’s light pink lips quickly before looking back at the dark sky blue eyes. 

“I’m not going to try and force you to anything. If you don’t want anything to do with me then just tell me and I’ll leave you alone. No problem.” Michael’s words are low and soft, his breath brushes against Dean’s lips. 

Dean thinks about the possibilities. He thinks about what he could say. There’s two options he either kisses Michael or doesn’t. He can tell Michael to leave him alone and this would be done. He could tell Michael to kiss him and, well, he has no idea what that would lead to. The question is what does Dean want? A big part of him wants to kiss Michael, simply out of attraction. Another part of him is scared of what it could lead to. If they kiss what would happen after. Do either of them want anything more than that to happen? Michael reaches out and lightly lays his hand on Dean’s hip. 

He takes a steadying breath before leaning forward and placing his lips firmly against Michael’s. Michael deepens the kiss and places both of his hands on Dean’s hips then pulls the slightly shorter man closer. He reaches out and rests a hand on Michael’s cheek and wraps the other around his waist. Michael runs his tongue across Dean’s bottom lip. In response he opens his mouth to allow Mihcael’s tongue in. They both deepen the kiss. Michael grips Dean’s hips harder. His heart pounds so hard against his chest he’s sure that Michael can hear it. 

Finally, he needs to breathe so he pulls away. Micheal keeps his hands on Dean’s hips. The taller man looks down at Dean with eyes that are hooded with lust. Dean takes a deep breath. Micheal runs his thumb across Dean chin then his cheekbone. A small smile comes across Dean’s lips as he looks up at Michael. 

“Well, you’re an even better kisser than I imagined you being.” Michael lightly runs his pointer finger across Dean’s lips. 

Dean huffs out a small chuckle. “Thanks. You’re not too bad yourself.” 

Michael smirks and traces around his cheeks. “You’re cute when you blush.” 

“I don’t blush.” He pushes away from Michael then covers his cheeks with his hands. 

The blue eyed man laughs. A proper from the chest laugh. It’s the first time Dean hears Michael genuinely laugh and he likes that he could make him laugh like that. He rubs his cheeks a few times hoping that the non-existent blush goes away.

“Damn, Dean. You’re just… damn.” Michael stands up from laughing and smiles at Dean. 

“What’s that mean?” 

“You’re just. I don’t know. You’re more than I originally thought.” 

Dean raises an eyebrow because he’s not sure how to respond to that. It seems like all of the Novaks are amazing at backhanded compliments. He steps forward ready for another round. Michael’s phone starts ringing. Just as fast as the smile came across Michael’s face it’s gone. The man’s whole face drops and any signs of joy are gone. Michael pulls his phone out of his back pocket and rolls his eyes before answering. 

“What do you want Zach?” Michael basically groans. 

He can’t hear anything that Zachariah is saying. Michael starts cleaning up the area he was practicing at. Dean finds himself watching Michael’s hands and thinking about the kiss. It was so intense yet delicate at the same time. He can almost still feel Michael’s hands gripping his hips. It’s as if the dark haired man was trying to hold back the entire time. He wonders what it would be like if he didn’t hold himself back. Would Michael’s hands have wondered over his body more? Would they have moved locations? 

“This seems like something I don’t have to be involved in.” Michael states as he puts away the gun he was using. 

The same old Michael is back. Commanding, domineering, and in control at all times. Seeing MIchael out of control, even in the smallest way possible, was thrilling in a strange way. Dean would have never thought that Michael would let him see him upset in any matter other than angry. While Michael was and is still angry when Dean first came into the room Michael was showing more than just anger to him. There was an upsetness to the twenty six year old. 

“Okay, okay. Fuck. Stop nagging me. I’m on my way.” Michael brings the phone away from his ear and shoves it back into his pocket. 

Michael looks over to Dean. He looks back. The tension between them feels like a rope wrapped around him that is trying to pull him to the other man. Michael starts walking towards him and suddenly his heartbeat is in his ears. The older man places his hands on either side of his face, his body goes numb. Michael's hands aren’t lightly touching his cheeks. They are placed firmly on his face. Blue eyes wonder all over Dean’s face before landing on his hazel eyes. 

“I’ll see you later.” Michael leans down to close the slight gap between. 

This kiss is much different than the last one, but still fantastic. Michael’s lips are soft as they gently press against his. The man\\]

pulls away slowly leaving Dean’s head feeling fuzzy. He’s never been left feeling intoxicated by another person, but Michael makes him feel dizzy. Without another word Michael leaves the building. Dean takes a few breaths in an effort to try and calm himself. He didn’t realize how much he wanted to kiss Michael until it happened. 

The wait of the gun that’s pressing on the small of his back grounds him. He pulls the gun out and looks at it. Maybe he shouldn't shoot a gun right now. He shoves the gun back and heads out of the shooting range. He’ll come back to practice another time. When he’s feeling less drunk. 

~~~~~

As he makes it to the driveway he gets a text from Gabe. The walk back to the house helped clear his head. He’s feeling more like he normally does and like he can think. Gabe’s text is asking where he went. Dean responds to tell him he went to the shooting range for a bit but is back now. He makes the trek up the ridiculously long driveway. As he walks into the house and up to his room he thinks about texting Cas to see where the kid is. 

“Hey.” Cas says as soon as Dean opens the door to his room. 

Well, that was easy. Cas is sitting on Dean’s bed facing the door. Obviously the kid has been waiting for him. He closes the door and steps more into the room. 

“Hey.” 

“So do you like Michael back?” 

The kid doesn’t waste any time. If you can credit Cas with one thing he does always get straight to the point. Dean walks over to the dresser and leans against it. He keeps his eyes on Cas. 

“I don’t think Michael even likes me,” not a lie, Michael is attracted to him that doesn’t mean he likes him, “and I don’t really know Michael so I what is there for me to like?” 

“Okay,” Cas pauses as he thinks about what to say, “so you might not like each other but sources are telling me that you both are into each other.” 

Dean doesn’t know what to say because he doesn’t want to lie but Michael said to keep it to themselves. He has to think of something to say quickly. 

“I can’t speak for Michael.” 

“But you can speak for yourself.” 

Dean shrugs and shakes his head. “I don’t know.” 

Cas nods. Neither of them say anything. Dean keeps his eyes on the kid but Cas looks at his shoes. He thinks back to the time Cas thought he slept with Gabe. Dean doesn't want his last month in this house to consist of Castiel ignoring him. He spends his entire day with the kid and getting the silent treatment from him is annoying. 

“Okay.” Cas finally says and looks back up at Dean. 

“Okay?” 

“Yeah. Okay. If there is something between you two I’d rather continue to be blind about it. So don’t talk to me about him if anything does happen.” Cas makes a face of disgust before standing up. 

“Um, Okay,” he pauses for a second, “do you remember when you thought Gabe and I did stuff? Why did that upset you so much?” 

“I’ve had a people get try to or succeed at getting close to me just to fuck one of my brothers. It’s not a great feeling.”

“I haven’t done that, Cas.” 

“Yeah.” Cas’ tone sounds like there's more that he wants to say but he doesn’t. 

Dean follows him out of his room. They start heading to the library. Back to business as usual it seems. The only somewhat friend it seems that Cas has is that kid Samandriel and it’s not like they actually hang out. Cas is only ever around his brothers and Dean. Dean didn’t think that Cas looked at him like a friend, but maybe the kid does. That fucking sucks. To only have him as a possible friend. 

He and Cas have gotten a little close over the past two months. Dean likes the kid but he deserves to have more of a life than just watching movies with him. It’s not like he’s a bad person, if anything he’s showing the kid culture. Dean’s thought since he met the kid that his life was strange. Of course being raised in a mob isn't normal, but other than that. His room has no personality and he has almost no hobbies. Cas works and reads. Dean hasn’t thought about it in awhile but knowing that an eighteen year old doesn’t really have friends makes him sad. 

~~~~~

He’s in the kitchen making popcorn. After the kiss and the slightly awkward conversation with Cas the rest of the day was fairly normal. Cas did some work in the library and Dean started reading a book that in any other circumstance he would probably never touch. They decided to watch a superhero tonight. He doesn’t know which one yet. Cas is picking the movie while Dean gets the snacks. Dean walks out of the pantry with two different candies to see Michael standing at the counter and eating the popcorn that he just made. 

“Do you mind? That’s not for you.” Dean walks over and moves the bowl away from Michael. 

Michael smirks as he takes a handful while the bowl is moved out of reach. 

“What’s the movie for tonight?” 

“I don’t know. Cas is picking it out.” Dean didn’t know that he knew about their movie nights, but he’s not surprised. 

He grabs the popcorn and candy. “Do you need anything?” 

Michael shakes his head. “ No. I didn’t even know you were in here.” 

Dean starts walking away but stops when he’s almost at the doorway. “Do you think it’s strange that Cas doesn't really have any friends?” 

“This isn’t really a friendly life Dean. Recent events should make that plenty clear.”

“So you don’t have any friends?” 

“Do you?” Michael asks before biting into a banana. 

Dean purses his lips because he was not expecting that. They aren’t talking about him and his life. This is about Cas. He feels a little attacked because he doesn’t really have any friends. Tony is maybe a friend? 

“Well?” 

“Listen, we aren’t talking about me.” 

“Oooh. Okay,” Michael huffs and it’s almost a laugh, “I guess we are all just friendless losers.” 

“Guess so.” Dean walks out of the kitchen with the snacks. 

~~~~~

It’s been two days since they got back from the trip. He’s had no interactions with Michael since the kiss. Which is making him feel many things. He doesn;t care but does care at the same time. While he hasn’t had any interactions with Michael he did have a weird conversation with Zachariah. The platinum blond stopped him yesterday as he was about to leave to pick up lunch. 

Zachariah had asked him some vague questions. Dean doesn’t remember all the questions but some were if he was planning to work for Tony again, does he miss his apartment, and does he prefer to live alone. While the random interview was strange it was the most civil conversation the two have ever had. 

“All I’m saying is that the science behind Captain America existing is flawed.” Cas’ voice rings him out of his thoughts of the interaction with Zachariah. 

“And I keep telling you that it’s a movie and you need to get over it. If this is how you’re going to be after every superhero movie I’m not watching anymore with you.” 

Cas huffs and glares at him as they make it to the staircase. “It’s flawed science.” The kid mutters under his breath. Dean simply shakes his head as they start walking down the stairs to the living room. 

“I told you she’s missing! I’ve looked everywhere!” Lucifer’s screams travel up the staircase. 

Both Cas and Dean stop in their tracks. From their spot on the stairs they can see into the living room. Michael and Lucifer are standing on opposite sides of the coffee table. Both of the brothers' body language reads that they are ready to fight. 

“If you’ve looked everywhere then you would have found her!” Michael screams back. 

“I don’t know where she’s gone to, Michael! I can’t kill a person that I can’t find! What do you want from me?” 

“I want you to not be useless!” Michael’s right hand clenches into the fist. 

Dean can’t see Lucifer’s face but the blond stands up straighter. Lucifer’s right foot moves forward ever so slightly. Dean grabs the railing of the staircase ready to fling himself forward to get down the stairs faster. Lucifer raises a hand and Dean is ready to have to stop a fight, yet again. 

Lucifer runs his hand through his hair. “Fuck you.” 

The insult comes out calmly. Hearing Lucifer be calm is more frightening than hearing him scream at the top of his lungs. Michael’s eyebrows draw together and his eyes get hard as he stares down his brother. Dean finds himself holding his breath as he waits for the climax of the fight to happen. He hears Cas exhale heavily. Dean quickly looks around the living room to see Gadreel standing by the front door. Zachariah is nowhere to be seen, which for the first and hopefully the last time disappoints Dean. 

“Do your fucking job.” Michael speaks through his teeth. 

“I am, unlike you.” 

Michael scratches his nose then takes a step forward. The coffee table is still between them, but he doesn’t think that a measly coffee table will stop a fight from happening. Dean takes one step down. 

“If you’re going to do something then do it already. I told you I can’t find her. I don’t know what you want from me but I’m not going to stand here and fight with you all day.” Lucifer takes a step forward. 

The brothers are both touching the small table with their legs. Either one could easily reach over and touch the other. Michael’s one hand is still a fist. The tension is malleable. Michael reaches out and grabs Lucifer by the shirt and pulls him closer. Dean takes another step down and he sees Gadreel move out of the corner of his eye. 

“Pack your shit. You aren’t coming back to this house until you find that bitch and I have her heart.” Michael pushes Lucifer away with such force that the blond falls on his ass. 

Michael doesn’t bother to stay; he walks past Gadreel and out the front door. The door is slammed shut, a few picture frames fall off the wall and crash onto the floor. Gadreel walks over to Lucifer and offers his hand. Lucifer ignores Gabriels hand and pushes himself off the floor. Dean feels a tug on the back of his shirt. He turns to see Cas walking back up the stairs. For some reason he has an urge to go after Michael. He ignores the urge and follows the kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s do you guys ever wonder what me real name is or am I just mess to you?  
> p.p.s does the spacing of the story annoy you? i write on google docs bc my Microsoft account thing expired and I don't feel like buying it again. I could try to fix the spacing. idk how i would do that yet tho but if it's annoying i will try to fix it.  
> Love, again,  
> Mess


	10. The Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I try to update every two weeks and I know I suck. Some things happened and I just had no motivation. I'm sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter tho and let know know what you think of it, as always I love hearing from you guys. I'm seriously considering getting Microsoft again just so I don't have to deal with this annoying spacing thing anymore. I hope you're all doing well and are safe and healthy.   
> Love, Mess

It’s fifteen minutes to midnight and he can’t sleep. He’s laying bed staring at the ceiling. His mind wandering from thought to thought. There’s many things to think about after all. He thinks about the conversation Zachariah and he had. Dean doesn’t spend much time thinking about that. Quickly, his mind starts to think about the fight between Lucifer and Michael. Part of him is surprised that the fight didn’t turn physical. He didn’t witness the entire fight, but using context clues he can assume that Lucifer can’t find Noami. Which clearly Michael is not happy about. Dean doesn’t know much about running a mob. He basically knows nothing, but he would think that if you couldn’t kill Noami her being missing would be the next best thing. Not that he thinks killing people is right. 

Damn. He shakes his head, shocked by himself. Dean hadn’t realized how almost desensitized to death and killing he had become. It’s been practically three months of hearing about that shit. So while it would make sense that those things would become normalized to him. It still leaves him with a weird feeling in his stomach. While he grew up a fighter, he’s never even thought about killing another human. Yet, three months of living with Novaks and the thought of someone he sees regularly killing a woman didn’t even seem like strange thought immediately. 

He rubs his temples. He’s making his head hurt. With a sigh he sits up and leans against the dark wood headboard. Three months of this. Of living with a mob family, of which he has never actually seen the father of. He thought that it would be a simple three months of paying off a debt for a friend. What kind of idiot was he think that? Technically his life was completely uprooted and put on pause, but to be honest he didn’t have much going on. As Michael so politely pointed out it’s not like he has any friends. He really didn’t have to leave anything behind. Which is kind of sad but also he wasn’t sad about agreeing to this situation, which is also sad. 

His phone dings, alerting him to a text, and pulls him out of his thoughts. He picks up his phone to see that Michael has texted him. As soon as he reads the text his eyebrows draw together in confusion. He stares at the three simple little words “Are you up?” 

Is Michael really texting him a u up text? He debates answering. Dean isn’t sure if he would say yes to having sex with Michael but he doesn’t feel like he wants to say no. Fuck it. He texts back that he is still up. Michael answers almost immediately, asking if he will come to his office. He answers with a thumbs up and gets out of bed. This might be a dumb choice but at this point Dean doesn’t care too much anymore. He’s feeling reckless and like he doesn’t know what the hell is going on with his life. If he can’t sleep he might as well get dick. 

  


~~~~~ 

  


Michael is sitting behind his desk with an almost empty whiskey glass in his right hand. The man is slumped down in the chair, his eyes are half closed and have dark circles under them, his hair is ruffled as if he has been running his hands through it. Dean notices the man's button down shirt is hanging off the back of the chair. Michael has on a white undershirt. The sight of the oldest Novak in a tank top stirs something inside of him. 

“Take a seat.” Michael says as he swirls the remaining whisky around. 

He steps in the room and closes the door behind himself. Dean briefly thinks about locking the door but decides not to just yet. As he sits down Michael moves the chair so that he is directly facing him. Michael quickly throws back the rest of the whiskey and places the glass down. 

“I’m just going to get right to the point,” Michael pauses and scratches his eyebrow then runs his hand through his hair, Dean heart starts to beat faster, “I want you to continue to work for us. Not to pay anything off. You would get paid. You could continue to live here or we could get you an apartment. Ideally you would continue to be Castiel’s bodyguard.” 

Dean’s heart stops beating and his brain stops working all at once. He stares at Michael not knowing what to do or think or even say. This is not at all what he thought was going to happen. He was really expecting Michael to say he wanted to like there was no tomorrow. Damn. He’s slightly annoyed with himself for feeling somewhat disappointed. He feels like he should have already said no to the offer instead of staring at Michael’s perfectly symmetrical face. Dean doesn’t want to say no. He’s not sure if he wants to accept the offer but he doesn’t want to say no, not yet. 

“You don’t have to give me an answer right now. You can think about it, but if you leave you can’t ever come back.” 

“Okay,” he manages to say despite his thoughts racing, “I need to think about it.” 

“I understand. You have until Sunday. So four days to think about it.” 

Dean nods. He isn’t sure if he should get up. Maybe Michael has more to say. He can’t think straight. So much of him is leaning towards staying, but why? No part of him should want to stay, this choice should be easy. It should be more than easy. Immediately he should have told Michael no. Instead he said he said he has to think, but he can’t think because his thoughts are incoherent. 

“You can go.” Michael states as he pulls a bottle out of a desk drawer and stares pouring it into his glass. 

“Oh.” Dean stands, his legs feel like they aren’t actually moving as he walks to the door. 

He grabs the handle of the door but before turning it he looks back at Michael. “You aren’t offering this just because you have a thing for me, right?” 

Michael’s eyes narrow into a glare. “There’s no one I have that much interest in Dean. Don’t flatter yourself. I think you’re an asset to us.” 

Dean isn’t sure if Michael’s answer should make him happy or upset. Regardless he turns the knob and leaves the office without another word. 

  


~~~~~~ 

  


Dean barely slept at all. It’s five thirty and he’s already had two cups of coffee. He spent hours thinking after leaving Michael’s office and still came to no conclusion. The reasonable answer is to leave. To forget all of this even happened until he’s sixty and then tell it as a story from his crazy young past. He knows that’s the reasonable thing to do, yet he can’t accept that. He doesn’t want to accept that and he doesn’t know why. 

Why would he stay? There’s no good reason to stay. Maybe there’s no good reason to leave either. Sure he can go work for Tony again and spend the rest of his life fixing cars. There’s nothing wrong with a life like that. A life full of good honest work. Choosing to go back to that almost feels like choosing to be alone. On the other hand choosing to stay is literally choosing a life of crime. Only a crazy person would choose to stay working for a mob. He sighs before taking a gulp of coffee. 

He wants to slam his head onto the top of the marble island that he’s sitting at. Maybe he should just flip a coin. Leave the choice to chance because he’s at a loss. He’s slightly pulled from his rambling thoughts when he hears the front door open. After a few moments he sees Lucifer walk past the kitchen. The man is walking completely straight and with a purpose. He briefly considers following the blond because he’s suspecting that Luci’s visit won’t end well. However, he stays put at the island. It’s barely even five thirty in the morning. He's gotten no sleep and dealing with Lucifer right now would probably be worse than dealing with the devil. 

A bed head ridden Cas enters the kitchen. The kid goes directly for the coffee pot and pours himself a cup. “No breakfast?” Cas asks as he sits across from Dean. 

“Oh,” Dean stands up and goes to the fridge, “what do you want?” 

“Something easy is fine since you seem tired.” Cas shrugs before taking a long sip from his large mug. 

With a nod Dean takes out the carton of eggs. He grabs a few other things so that he can make some omelets. Silence falls over the kitchen. They almost never talk in the mornings which Dean appreciates because he’s not much of a morning talker. Right now he’s even more appreciative of it. He doesn’t think he would be able to hold a conversation right now his brain is not working on a properly functioning level. 

“I know Michael asked you to stay. Are you? Going to stay?” Cas asks, breaking their unspoken rule of not speaking in the morning. 

“I don’t know yet.” 

“Oh.” There’s the slightest hint of disappointment in Cas’ voice, Dean almost doesn't catch it. 

“Do you want me to stay?” Dean briefly looks over his shoulder at the kid before going back to cracking eggs. 

“I want you to do what you want to do.” 

“Do you think that I should stay?” 

“I don’t know. I think that we would be able to give you a lot of things.” 

Dean purses his lips as he cuts up a pepper. He’s not sure he knows what Cas means by that. What does it mean to give him things? Would they give him opportunities, money, items? He’s not sure. Staying would give him the answer. 

“Do you miss your other life?” Cas asks, his voice soft. 

Dean has to hold back a laugh. What is there to miss? His apartment, as Lucifer so gracefully put it, was a shithole. He doesn’t have any friends, which Micheal generously pointed out. The only two things he really had was his car, which he still has, and Tony. Nothing against Tony, but is going back to life really worth it just for a fifty something year old man? 

“I don’t think that I would use the word miss.” He finally answers. 

“Then what is there to think about?” 

“I guess I need to decide if  _ this _ is the life that I want.” 

Cas makes a noise in the back of his throat. Just like that the conversation is over. It seems like Cas wants him to stay but doesn’t want to say that. Over the last three months he has built some type of relationship with the kid. He just figured that the person who so clearly didn’t want a bodyguard would be happy to be rid of said bodyguard.

  


~~~~~~

  


The kid is at a self protection lesson with Uriel, something that has been happening since the kidnap attempt. He’s taking Sunflower on a walk around the neighborhood with Gabe. Dean is wearing a usual outfit for himself. A pair of jeans with a gray t-shirt.Gabe is wearing lilac shirts, a shirt that says ‘but daddy I love him’ and a silk scarf is being used to hold his curls out of his face. It’s quite the outfit. 

They are a block away from the house. The entire time so far Gabe has been talking, which is fine and expected. The man has been talking about how he knows he doesn’t drink enough water but he hates drinking water. Dean has offered little to nothing to the conversation. That’s what’s great about Gabe. You don’t have to say anything because he can talk by himself for hours without anyone saying anything back to him. It’s a talent honestly. 

“Annnyway,” Gabe takes a breath, “are you staying?” 

“I don’t know.” He answers without missing a beat. 

“Why not?” 

“Because is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? Work for a mob? Be a part of organized crime?” 

“Apparently some part of you wants that because your answer isn’t immediately no.” 

“It should be though, right? I shouldn’t even have to think about it. My answer should just be no. Why do I have to think about it? That’s kinda fucked, isn’t it?” 

“Here’s how I see it Dean. You can either have money and power or you can’t. That’s the only choice to make.” 

“But are those the only things that matter in life?” Dean asks. 

“Those are the things that make life easier.” Gabe quickly and easily says. 

“Wow. True words of wisdom.” He says half sarcastically. 

“Oh I know. I’m basically Gandalf.” 

There’s silence between them for all of four seconds before Gabe starts talking again. This time he starts listing his favorite colors in order. Dean zones out almost as soon as the list starts. Is it really that easy? Just choose if he wants money or not. It can’t be that simple because life isn’t that simple. Things are never black and white. There’s so many other things to life than money and power. There’s happiness and love. It’s not like he was exactly getting those things before though. Not that he was unhappy but he was just kind of living. Is he happy now? Can he be happy by being in the Novaks life? His head is starting to hurt. 

  


~~~~~

  


He and Gabe get back to the house a few minutes after they receive a text from Michael saying to meet in his office. Gabe heads to Michael’s office while Dean goes to the part of the house Sunflower stays in. He refills her water dish and gives her one of her favorite treats before heading to the office. Dean walks into the office. Instead of all of the Novaks sitting down, like usually, everyone is standing. Michael is standing behind his desk and Lucifer is next to the desk. Gabe, Cas, Raphael, and Uriel are all standing around the room. Dean steps into the office and closes the door behind himself. 

“Alright. Let’s make this quick,” Michael looks put together except his face looks worn down, “Lucifer and I have been discussing the Noami situation. As we all know Lucifer has been tasked with finding her and disposing of her. That’s proving to be more difficult than we had originally thought it would be. Because of this he’s asked for more help than just Gadreel. I agree that Lucifer having more people would make things easier. So Uriel and Dean will be working for him.” 

“Wait, wait wait. Do we not have anyone else that can do this?” Gabriel asks and puts his hands on his hips while keeping his eyes on Michael. 

“Hopefully it won’t be long, Gabe. Uriel is one of our best people there’s no one we could use instead of him.” Michael leans back into his chair and folds his hands over his lap. 

Gabe huffs out a breath through his nose but doesn’t argue. Uriel says nothing, he doesn’t have to say anything though his face shows that he’s proud. Lucifer’s face shows no emotion. Dean is surprised that he would be picked to help Lucifer to do something. 

“Why did I have to be here?” Raphael asks, sounding bored. 

“Then leave.” Mihcael deadpans without even bothering to look at the third son. 

Briefly Raphael looks angry but he quickly composes himself. Without saying anything else the dark haired man leaves the office. Once he’s gone Michael looks around the room at everyone left. No one says anything to which Mihcael waves his hand to dismiss everyone then turns his chair around so that the back is facing everyone. 

“Get whatever you’ll need to stake out a house for the day.” Lucifer says to Uriel and him. 

“They’re leaving today?” Gabe questions as he grabs one of Uriel’s arms. 

“Your codependency with Uriel is sickening,” Lucifer huffs out in disgust, “I’ll text Uriel the address.” He adds before walking off. 

“Maybe if everyone else in this damn house didn’t suck then I wouldn’t be obsessed with Uriel.” Gabe grumbles under his breath before walking away. 

Uriel shrugs then follows the blond. Dean looks to Cas. The kid looks back at him and sighs before walking away. They go to Deans room and Cas sits on his bed as he packs a small amount of things since he has no idea what one brings to a stake out. When he finishes he slings the dufflebag over his shoulder and turns to look at Cas. 

“Be safe.” Cas says and stands up from the bed. 

“Yeah. I’ll try.” 

“I hope this isn’t my last time seeing you.” The words rush out of the kids mouth and before Dean can respond Cas is already out of the room. Dean exits his rooms and is ready to follow after Cas but Uriel is there and stops him. 

“Let’s go.” Uriel gives Dean no time to protest as he goes behind him and starts pushing him in the direction of the stairs. 

He looks over his shoulder but Cas is gone. Dean wants to talk to the kid about staying but maybe it would be pointless. Cas said what he had to say and his feelings were clear. It’s not like Dean has an answer for him, not yet anyway. 

“Where are we going anyway?” 

“To stake out a property that belongs to the Daemons. We have info that they use it as a safe house from time to time so it’s a possibility that Noami is hiding out in it.” 

  


~~~~~~

  


They’ve been sitting in Dean’s car halfway down the block from the supposed safe house for two hours with no sign of anything. He and Uriel have barely said anything to each other. Something that Dean does not mind in the least bit. They’ve been listening to music and watching. Dean wishes that they had gotten more snacks at the gas station they stopped at. Uriel is a pretty easy guy to get along with. He thinks that if they had met in a different way in another life they would be some type of friends. You can’t really not get along with a guy that hardly talks. Plus he can kick ass  _ almost  _ as well as Dean can.

“So,” Dean breaks the silence, “can I ask you something?” he wants to get Uriel’s opinion on him staying. Uriel is a good person's opinion to get because he’s brutally honest, unless its something about Gabe. 

“Technically you just did.” Uriel states, eyes unmoving from the house up the street. 

“Ha ha ha. You’re so funny. Seriously man. I want your opinion on something.” Dean rolls his eyes at the lame joke. 

“Ask away.” 

“Okay, well, Michael asked me to stay and continue working for them-” 

“I know.” Uriel interjects. 

“I don’t know if I should stay or not. If I want to stay. Do you think I should?” 

“Would you really stay if I say I think you should? Or would you leave if I say I think you shouldn’t stay? Because if you would then there’s one of two reasons you would do what I think you should. Either what I said is what you wanted to hear and just wanted another person to confirm your feelings. Or you’re a spineless worm who does whatever someone tells them to do. If it’s the second then leave because I don’t need someone around who can’t think for themselves.” Uriel doesn’t look at Dean once while he talks and he says everything with such finality. 

“I just want to hear what you think. I’m not saying I would listen to anything you say.” He explains as he watches a car that drives down the street. 

“I’m not going to tell you what I think you should do. But, just so you know you should always listen to what I say if I tell you to do something because I’m always right.” 

“Well, you’ve been no help.” Dean picks up his CD holder to pick out a different album or mixtape to play. 

“Why do you not know what to do?” 

“Because I shouldn’t even have to think about staying. The right thing to do is to leave. To wipe my hands of all of this shit and never look back. Yet here I am considering staying and why?” 

Uriel hums. Silence falls between them again. He switches out the CDs and leans his head against the window as he watches a pizza delivery guy. Uriel probably isn;t telling him his opinion because he wants Dean to leave but doesn’t want to say that. On second thought. Uriel doesn’t give a shit if he’s being a dick. If he wanted Dean to leave he would have immediately said that. 

“It seems to me that you’ve already made your choice but you don’t want to accept your choice.” Uriel speaks up after a few minutes of saying nothing. 

“What do you mean?” Dean questions.

“You know exactly what I mean.” 

The conversation falls away again. Dean chews on the inside of his cheek as he thinks. Damn Uriel for making sense. He has made his choice but his choice feels wrong. Maybe Uriel was right and he was just waiting for someone to tell him what he wanted to hear. If Uriel had told Dean he shouldn’t stay. Dean probably would have breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Uriel for talking some sense into him, because he’s crazy. Right? He has to be crazy. Only a crazy person would want to continue to work for a mob. Then again someone sane would have most likely never have gotten involved with a mob to begin with. Dean’s never really been known for making choices that are good for him.

  


~~~~~ 

  


Two days of staking out the house and nothing has happened. Dean yawns and stretches to the best of his ability in his car. Uriel opens the passenger door and hands Dean his coffee from the shop that’s around the corner. It’s not very good coffee but it’s better than nothing. He still hasn’t given Michael an answer. He’ll probably text him later today. 

“So how long are we going to stake out this house before deciding she isn’t here?” Dean asks while opening a bag of beef jerky. 

“Until Lucifer decides we are done staking it out.” 

Dean can’t help but roll his eyes. Not for nothing but it doesn’t exactly seem like Lucifer is itching to find this lady. Maybe being kicked out of the house until he finds her will put some kind of fire under his ass. Dean’s not too convinced of that though. The sun starts to rise and he takes a sip of the crappy coffee. 

“This is so romantic.” Dean looks over to Uriel and bats his eyes at the stern man. 

“You’re an idiot.” Uriel groans as he unwraps the muffin he got from the coffee shop. 

“I love your pet names for me, so sweet.” He sighs in a dreamy tone. 

The dark eyed man shakes his head in return, but he thinks that he sees a twinge of a smile on the man’s face. Uriel isn’t a completely dry man. He puts up a face just like the rest of them. They are hardened men from living in violence and being thugs. Once you start to break through that hard shell you start to see an actual person. Except with Lucifer because that guy is a straight-up lunatic. There’s no barrier to break down with Lucifer. What you see is what you get and the only thing to see is crazy. 

By the end of the day nothing of importance happened again. Nothing happened at the house they are watching. No movement from the inside or the outside. The only thing that he witnessed that was interesting was some teen getting pooped on by a bird. They start their shifts of sleeping with Dean keeping watch and Uriel sleeping. 

Dean stares at his phone. At the message he has typed up to Michael. It’s simple. Just three little words. Yes, I’ll stay. His thumb hovering over the send button. For some reason he can’t bring himself to press the button. He does want to stay but saying yes feels so final. Which is a dumb thing to think because it is final. He’s choosing to change his entire life and for what. He doesn’t know. All he knows is that saying no feels wrong. So then why can’t he just press the dumb fucking send button. With a sigh he looks up from his phone and leans back. His head hits the back of the seat. He looks to the supposed safe house and has to rub his eyes to make sure he’s seeing what he is actually seeing. When he pulls his hands away from his face the light is gone. 

He rubs his eyes again. Dean could have sworn that there was a light on in the house. There’s no light now. He cracks open an energy drink and leans forward to keep his eyes on the house. Before putting his full attention on watching the house he hits send on the message then throws his phone into the back seat. There’s no point mulling it over anymore or wussing out on pressing a stupid little button. Dean’s made his choice and that’s all there is to it. He’s staying with the Novaks. Whether or not that is the best thing, he has no idea, all he knows is that for some reason it feels like the right choice to him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also incase you haven't seen I have posted a smut fic of Dean and Michael so If that's something you've been waiting for from me it is posted!


	11. The Stakeout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a shorter update. I'll try to make it up to y'all with the next update. I hope that you guys like this chapter! For those of you that have been enjoying Uriel I'll let you know that you get a little backstory for him this chapter. Anyway I don't have much to say so I'll let you get to reading! As always let me know your thoughts I love hearing from you and talking to you!   
> Love,   
> Mess

Dean’s not sure if you’ve ever spent five days in a car. While he has lived out of his car before he’s never spent so much time in one and never with another person. In case you’ve never had the pleasure of spending five days in a car with Uriel. He just needs to let it be known how incredibly and truly awful it is. There’s no part of it that is good. Okay, well Uriel isn’t that bad if he had to be stuck with anyone Uriel is one of the best people he could be stuck with. That though is not the point.The point is the smell. Which is absolutely atrocious. 

After the smell the worst thing is having to wait to go to the bathroom in shifts every five to eight hours. The meals consisting of food they can get from the coffee shop and the gas station isn’t that bad. It’s not like dean is a health nut so living off of beef jerky and corn chips isn’t the worst thing in the world. Lastly, having to sleep in the car while bearable is not his favorite thing, especially after getting used to the high quality mattress that the Novaks have. 

“Are you sure that you’re sure that you saw something?” Uriel questions as he stares at the possible safe house. 

“For the hundredth time Uriel. I’m sure that I saw a light on the other night. It was brief but I know what I saw. 

The dark eyed man sighs heavily. “I’m just saying that sometimes when you want to see something really badly your mind tricks you into thinking that you did see it.” 

“Well it’s a good thing that I didn’t want to see a light.” Dean stretches out in the backseat which causes his back to crack. 

Uriel winces slightly at the sound but doesn’t say anything. They continue to watch the house. Uriel from the driver's seat and Dean from the back. He wishes that they had taken one of the large SUVs. An SUV is much more noticeable than his car though. Unfortunate. He grabs a discarded plastic fork off the ground and stuffs it into his cast in an effort to reach the itch on his hand. 

“Would you stop doing that? You’re going to get a bunch of crap stuck in there and then you’ll just be more uncomfortable than you are now.” Uriel says without even turning to look at Dean. 

Dean looks at the rearview mirror but Uriel's eyes are still looking forward at the house. How did he even see him do anything? Uriel is a bit of a mysterious man. One could argue that everyone of the Novaks and those involved with them are all mysterious, which would be true. Uriel is mysterious in a different way. While the others make it seem like they aren’t letting you completely know them. Uriel makes it seem like everything you need to know about him is already presented to you but you know that’s not true. You know that’s there more to Uriel but you have no idea what the more is. 

“Can I ask you something about yourself?” 

“I suppose you can.” 

“How did you even end up working for the Novaks?” Dean sits up and moves to the middle seat in the back and leans forward. 

“It’s not that interesting of a story.” Uriel reclines his seat a bit. 

“If you’re willing to tell it then I’m ready to listen.” 

Uriel inhales slowly and Dean can tell that he’s mulling it over. “Fine,” he finally states, “it’s not like we have anything better to do.” 

“Are you kidding? You don’t think that staring at an unmoving dark house is boring? You’re crazy.” Dean climbs into the front seat so that he can sit in the passenger seat as Uriel tells his story. 

The dark, tall, and mysterious man huffs out a small laugh. “So I met Gabriel when we were both eight. Chuck was going through this religious phase. The Novaks went to church consistently for a year and during that time I met Gabe at Sunday school. We were complete opposites, but even back then Gabe had that air around him. He was the life of the party and always knew how to have fun. We became friends pretty quickly.” Uriel trails off. 

Dean can tell that he is thinking about that time. Of Gabe and he being kids and playing, having fun and no worries, no stake outs. “Anyway.” Uriel clears his throat. 

“We stayed friends even after they stopped coming to church. Chuck liked me. Michael and Raphael liked me. Lucifer didn’t trust me until like two years later. Well, then. When I was twelve my mom got sick. She didn’t make it until I was thirteen-” 

“I’m so sorry, Uriel.” Dean says lightly. 

“My dad couldn’t cope with it,” Uriel plows through Dean’s condolences, “He started drinking. Not a lot at first, but after time he wasn’t ever sober. He was either drunk or he was passed out. It was better when he was passed out because when he wasn’t then he would be screaming or throwing punches.” 

“Oh, man. Uriel. Man, dude. I’m so fucking sorry you had to go through all of that. Alone? Do you have siblings?” The words fall out of Dean like vomit, he can’t control it. 

Uriel shrugs, “Can’t change what’s already happened. No, I don’t have any siblings. I ran away when I was fourteen. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I stayed at a park for like a week before Gabe found out. To make an already long story short. I moved in with the Novaks and the rest is history.” 

Dean is silent as he tries to process everything that Uriel just said. It’s not as if Dean’s childhood was amazing. He has his fair share of trauma. That being said it’s still a lot of information that was just given to him. Which yes he did as for but that’s not the point now is it. Uriel turns and looks at him. His face is slightly different than usual. It’s a bit softer and his eyes aren’t as serious. 

“I know you lost your mom too. I’m sorry that you had to go through that.” 

“Uh, thanks. It’s okay. I’m okay. It was a long time ago.” Dean stumbles over his words and feels like an idiot the entire time. 

Uriel shrugs and turns back to continue to look at the house. Dean bites the inside of his lip and feels like a true moron. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked in the first place, but he does feel like he knows the guy a lot better. 

“Sorry.” Dean blurts out. 

“For what.” Uriel chuckles, well it’s a chuckle for Uriel. 

“For being weird now that I know all that and don’t know what to say.” 

“What is one supposed to say when they find out someone's father was an abusive drunk? You’re not being weird. At least not anymore than you usually are.” 

Dean nods even though Uriel can’t see it. Or maybe he can since it seems like Uriel sees everything no matter what. Now it makes more sense as to why Uriel has an undying loyalty to Gabe more than the rest of the Novaks. 

“So have you and Gabe ever been like, a thing?” 

“Ew, you sicko,” Uriel’s face scrunches up in disgust, “he’s like a brother to me and I love him like that. Like a brother.” 

“I was just asking.” He holds up his hands in defeat. 

Uriel lets out a low hum but says nothing in response. Silence falls between them again but this one is much more comfortable than the one before. Dean picks up his CD carrier and starts flipping through it. Looking in from the outside Uriel and Gabe do seem like complete opposites and they are. They seem like opposites that would hate each other instead of being best friends. Maybe they would hate each other if they met each other now as opposed to meeting as children. They’ve grown up with each other, grown together. Dean’s not sure what’s that like. Even with his own brother they didn’t grow together they grew apart. 

~~~~~~ 

It’s Dean’s turn to watch the house now. Despite it seeming like Uriel doesn’t trust him and his eyes. He taps his fingers on his thigh as he sits in the driver’s seat staring at the house. Dean keeps his eyes focused forward while trying to ignore the intense almost burning like itch that is happening under the cast on his arm. A small snore comes from the back seat making it clear that Uriel is now asleep. He adjusts himself in his seat trying to get comfortable all while looking at the house and waiting for some kind of life to happen inside of it. 

To take his mind off the annoying itch of his arm he decides to think of something else. Instantly his mind goes to Michael, just another annoying thing in his life. Michael has not responded to Dean’s text saying that he’ll stay. Dean has no idea what that means. Maybe Michael changed his mind and doesn’t want Dean to stay so now as soon as Dean gets back to the Novak house he’ll be kicked out. Michael is the king of mixed signals. Which is getting old, fast. 

While Michael has been ignoring him Cas has been doing the complete opposite. He gets a minimum of five pictures of Sunflower a day. Dean has not at any point asked for a picture but if he’s being honest it’s nice to see her. On top of the pictures Cas has been giving him updates on Sunflower. Such as making sure she is getting her walks, doing research into a better dog food, and moving her stuff into his room. Cas now has Sunflower sleeping with him at night. It’s kind of nice to see how much the kid cares about the dog and that the two seem to really like each other. 

Cas hasn’t only been texting him about Sunflower, while it has mostly been that, he’s also just been texting him about random things. He didn’t think the kid would miss him but it seems that he was wrong. Dean’s not sure if they are technically friends but if they are he doesn’t know when that happened. It’s not like he’s complaining about it. He likes the kid and it makes him kind of happy that the kid likes him. It’s almost like having a little brother again. 

He thinks of Sam and wonders how his actual little brother is doing.If his life is good and everything he wanted it to be.He hopes his brother is doing good, he hopes that he’s happy. Living with a family that is loyal to each other no matter what has been a weird experience. Despite the Novaks going at each other's throats like it’s their jobs sometimes they are always there for each other. While Dean can see the downside to that, it makes him wish that his brother felt some kind of loyalty to him. He shakes himself out of the thoughts of Sam. There’s no point in thinking about the one thing in his life he can’t think. It only makes his heart hurt. 

~~~~~

“We’ve gotten a few more leads,” Lucifer’s voice drawls through the speaker from Uriel’s phone, “you guys have two more days at your house and if you still see nothing than we’re going to assume it's a dead lead.” 

“We have seen something.” 

“Yes. I’ve heard about your light, Dean. Like I said if there’s still nothing in two days you’ll be stationed somewhere else.” Dean can practically hear the eye roll. 

Dean opens his mouth to argue with Lucifer. He doesn’t think two days is enough time to continue the stake out before considering this lead dead. Also, he doesn’t appreciate that no one believes that he saw a light. If no one is going to believe him then why did they have him come? 

“Sounds good, Lucifer. We’ll continue to keep you updated.” Uriel rushes out before Dean can say anything.

Dean turns to glare at the man but is ignored. “I just think-” 

“Is there anything else?” Uriel talks over Dean. 

“No. I’ll talk to you soon.” Lucifer answers before hanging up. 

“What the hell?” Dean demands while continuing to glare. 

“I’m not going to sit and listen to you and him argue. One because it’s annoying. Two it’s pointless, you are not going to change his mind on anything. And finally, three, oh well I guess I don’t have a third reason.” Uriel reaches into the back and grabs a bag of peanuts and starts eating it while looking forward at the house. 

“Why am I even here if none of you believe that I saw a light?” 

“I have no idea why Lucifer picked you to be a part of this because he hates you.” 

“Well, that’s incredibly reassuring.” Dean sighs, he looks away from Uriel and out the window. 

“Oh you wanted to be reassured? You should have said that.” 

“What then you would have reassured me?” 

“No. I just would have known that’s what you wanted.” 

Dean’s not sure what answer he was expecting. He blames himself for even briefly thinking Uriel would say anything that would make him feel better. Uriel’s not exactly the comforting type. Wanting comfort from Uriel is like hugging a cactus. Dean stares at the window that he saw the light from the other night. He knows he saw a light, just for the briefest of seconds maybe, but he knows it was there. There’s someone in that house. 

“I know there’s someone in there.” 

“Technically you don’t know that.” Uriel’s tone is pure boredom. 

“Maybe we should sneak over there tonight and check it out.” Dean says the words slowly. He thinks that if he says the words in a calculating manner Uriel will be more inclined to agree. 

“Absolutely not. That’s a terrible idea.” 

“You didn’t even think about it.” 

“Clearly you haven’t either.” Uriel practically snaps at him. 

“I have actually. I know I saw a light in the window. Someone is in there and sitting here waiting isn’t doing anything. We wait until it is dark and take our guns and sneak in. It won’t be hard and then we will have a definite answer.” 

“No Dean. It’s reckless and goes directly against what Lucifer has told us to do. What if it goes wrong? We can’t risk it for a chance.” 

“But-” 

I said no,” Uriel cuts him off, “you aren’t going to be able to change my mind so just stop. Unless we see something then we stay put. Even when we do see something you know we need to call Lucifer first.” 

Dean rolls his eyes. He knows someone is in there just sitting in the dark, avoiding the windows. If the person in the house holds out for two more days then they are going to get away. The thought of that is just as annoying as the itch under his stupid cast. 

~~~~~ 

It’s 3 in the morning. The time that Uriel and he usually switch shifts. Uriel is climbing into the front seat as Dean continues to watch the house. Suddenly a light turns on. It’s the same one as before. Dean grabs Uriel’s arm and points to the house without saying anything. 

“No way.” Uriel says lightly in disbelief. 

“I fucking told you! Let’s go.” Without a second thought Dean throws open the door and jumps out of the car. He starts running. First he crosses the street then he starts running down the sidewalk. 

“Wait!” Uriel calls after. 

With his left hand Dean reaches to his back to grab his gun. It’s not there. He thinks about turning back to grab it but he;s not very good at shooting with his left hand. Dean decides to not go back for his gun. Maybe a terrible choice but he knows Uriel right behind him. Sure, they’re supposed to call Lucifer and wait for him to show up before doing anything. There’s no point in waiting. 

He gets to the safehouse and quickly scans over it to look for any lights that look automated. Seeing none Dean slowly edges himself to the fence that leads to the backyard. As he grabs the handle of the back fence a hand falls on his shoulder and his heart stops. 

“This is not what we are supposed to be doing.” Uriel’s low voice allows Dean’s heart to start again. 

“Yet, here you are.” 

“Unfortunately I don’t want you to die today,” the man huffs, “I texted Lucifer but now that we are here let’s go.” 

Slowly Dean pushes the fence open. They walk into the backyard. The lawn is overgrown and there’s junk everywhere. Uriel walks ahead of Dean to the back door. He gives a gentle tug on the door to see if it’s locked, it is. As Uriel walks over to the window Dean takes out his wallet and pulls out his driver's license. Strategically he starts trying to get the latch on the door to unlock with the plastic card. He’s had to break into his old apartment like this a few times. Briefly, he thinks that there’s no way a safehouse has a shitty lock like his old apartment. Then he hears the small click of the door unlocking and he smiles to himself. 

He whistles quickly to get Uriel's attention. Dean waves over the man and slowly turns the knob and pushes the door open. Uriel rushes over and walks into the house ahead of Dean. He follows behind the man who has his gun out in front of them. Without looking around the place they head right to the staircase that leads upstairs. Dean finds himself holding his breath as they slowly make their way up the steps. 

They end up in the second floor hallway after what feels like an eternity. The light is still on, it’s visible from under the closed door. His heart is pounding and his hands feel numb. Suddenly he regrets not going back for his gun. He’s aware of everything around him. The house smells like dirt and mold. All of the doors in the hall are closed and they are all a dark brown. The floor is covered in a puke green carpet. He feels almost dizzy. As a child he always hated playing hide and seek and it always freaked him out. Made his heart beat too fast and his hands sweat. The moment when the person seeking you is close and you suddenly realize you have to pee and are trying not to breathe hard so that they can’t find you simply from your heavy breathing. This moment feels an awful lot like that. 

The door with the light opens and a person steps into the hallway. Dean doesn’t have time to process what the person looks like before Uriel is rushing forward. He stands frozen like an idiot as Uriel body slams the person to the ground. The sound of the two of them hitting the gross carpet snaps Dean out of it and he runs forward. Uriel easily overpowers the person and ends up on top of the person. The man throws a punch before standing and hauling the person up. He pushes what Dean now recognizes as a man against the wall. Dean grabs Uriel’s discarded gun and with his left hand holds it against the man's temple. 

“Who are you and where is Naomi?” Dean demands in a deeper voice than his usual one. 

“Like I’d tell you.” The unidentified man snarls. 

“You will if you want to live.” Lucifer’s voice comes from behind them. 

Dean turns to see Lucifer and Gadreel walking down the dimly lit hall. Lucifer walks up to Dean and pushes him away from the unidentified man. He keeps his grip on the gun but steps to the side. In one swift motion Lucifer grabs the man’s hair, pulls his head back and slams his face into the wall in front of him. Lucifer has absolutely no expression as the man's nose starts pouring blood. 

“I’ve had a shitty week, guy. I have a lot of pent up rage right now just bubbling in my chest. You seem like the perfect person to take  _ all  _ of that out on. That’s up to you though. You can either tell us what we want to know the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours.” 

“I’ll never tell you anything.” The man growls then spits a mouthful of blood onto Lucier’s face. 

Dean sees the man’s life flash before his eyes. He looks over to Gadreel who has a cruel smile on his face. Lucifer’s face shows no emotion, but it doesn’t have to. Dean knows that Lucifer is insane. A smile could never show the cruel thoughts that swirl around inside the second Novak son’s head. 

“Gadreel.” Lucifer states calmly. 

“Yes.” Gadreel steps forward so he’s next to the blond. 

“Get the tools. Meet us in the basement.” Lucifer motions for Uriel to take the man. 

Gadreel doesn’t say anything but his eyes light up. Lucifer’s wingman walks away, assumingly to get ‘the tools’ whatever that means. Uriel puts one hand on the back of the man's neck and grabs the guy's wrist with his other hand before pulling him away from the wall. 

“So should I go back out to the car?” Dean asks, feeling out of place. 

“Oh, no no no. You choose to stay Winchester. So you’re here and you’re staying. This is it, this is the life you choose. Not just babysitting Castiel. This.” Lucifer answers without looking at Dean, he follows behind Uriel


	12. Author's note

I'm going to delete this when I post an actual update but I just felt so bad leaving you guys hanging. I had to post something just to tell you all. I'm so sorry and I don't want to give a bunch of excuses. I was hoping I would get an actual chapter update tonight but that's not going to happen. I guess I've been dealing with some writers block because I just haven't really been in the mood to write and I'm sorry for that. I've been busy and haven't made enough time for it. I promise I haven't abandoned this story. An update will come. I can't give an actual day or anything I'm so sorry. I hope you all can forgive me. 


	13. The first day back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well damn. I don't have much to say other than sorry for the wait and let me know what you think as always I love talking to y'all.   
> Love, Mess

Dean’s head is spinning. There’s a million thoughts running through his head but none of them are sticking. He’s following behind Lucifer as they walk down to the basement of the house. He has no idea what to expect. Sure, he’s heard Lucifer talk and he knows that the man is insane. He knows that Lucifer does crazy shit to people, things that others would never think a person could be capable of doing. There’s a difference between hearing something and seeing something. Maybe he should have been expecting this, waiting for this, ready for this. He doesn’t feel ready. 

Lucifer grabs a chair from the dining room as they walk through it. The blond opens a door and Uriel, who’s still holding onto the man, walks forward. He follows behind trying to willfully slow his heart rate down. The steps lead into a dark room. Fumbling noises fill the noise then a dim light flicks on. Lucifer sets down the chair heavil, his face is steely and unmoving. There’s no emotion in Lucifer’s eyes. Dean truly never thought he would be in this position. He agreed to being Castiel’s bodyguard and while on some level he has accepted shooting someone to kill them. Torture never crossed his mind. 

Gadreel comes thumping down the stairs carrying a large trunk. He practically throws the trunk down in front of the man in the chair. Gadreel kneels down in front of the large box and pulls out some rope. Dean can’t see into the box and he doesn’t know if he wants to. 

“I’m graciously giving you one last chance to tell me what you know.” 

“I’ll die before I tell you anything.” The man growls as Uriel and Gadreel tie him into the chair. 

“Then you shall die,” Lucifer smiles as he leans down to grab something out of the box, “in the most painful way you can imagine.” 

Dean looks over to Uriel. Unsurprisingly, his face is emotionless. Lucifer stands up with a long slender knife in hand. With his foot the tall blond shoves the seemingly heavy trunk to the side. Lucifer reminds Dean of a snake as he moves closer to the man in the chair. The blond leans over the man and gently runs the tip of the knife across his jawline and down his neck. 

“Where is Noami?” Lucifer asks while moving the knife slowly down the man's arm. 

Silence follows Lucifer’s question. Dean isn’t sure how much time passes before Lucifer brings his arm up then down quickly. The knife goes into the man's hand. The man throws his head back but doesn’t make a sound. 

“A strong little rat you are.” Lucifer snarls, he leaves the knife in the hand. 

He watches as Lucifer slowly cuts continuously cuts the man's body. The man says nothing as the knife digs deeply into his jawline. Blood is running from multiple different areas now. He makes himself not flinch as the mans legs are broken. The screams that come out of the man are ungodly. 

“Tell me where Naomi is and this all ends.” Lucifer’s voice is oddly soft as pulls out a pair of brass knuckles from the trunk.

The knuckles are handed to Gadreel who puts them on with a smile. The man says nothing. Lucifer runs his tongue across his bottom lip then huffs out a sigh. With a nod to his second, Gadreel eagerly steps forward and start punching anywhere he can. The blond motions towards Uriel. The two walk off to the corner. Dean looks away from the sight in front of him for a few seconds. When the two walk back over he looks back to the man who now clearly has a broken nose. Lucifer holds up his hand and Gadreel takes a step back. 

“Here’s your options. You tell me where Noami is or Uriel here waterboards you until you drown.” 

The man looks from Lucifer then to Uriel then back to Lucifer. “And if I do tell you then how will you kill me?” 

Lucifer’s head tilts to the side. “How about this. You tell me and you get to choose.” 

The man sighs heavily, he’s covered in blood, cuts and bruises. “I don’t know exactly where she is but I know they took her out of Cali. They have a lot of property in Arizona though. That’s all I know.” 

“Take care of this, Gadreel.” Lucifer says quickly before walking away. 

Dean has already resigned himself to the fact that he will watch this man die. The amount of relief that washes over him as Uriel grabs his arm and they start walking towards the steps. Uriel keeps his hand on Dean’s arm until they reach the car. His arm reaches out for his car to steady himself. With a violent lurch forward he vomits onto the black pavement. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and stands up. 

“I’m fine.” He announces. 

“Yeah you are. Get in the car.” 

~~~~~~

Dean isn’t entirely sure where they are heading to. He assumes back to the Novak house but really they could be on their way to Arizona. The ride is silent. The images of what he just witnessed continue to come back to him. This is what he signed up for, What he agreed to. He told Michael he would stay. Dean was ready to kill someone himself. Torture is different. Gadreel enjoyed doing it so much. The smile on the man's face as Lucifer cut into the stranger. Remembering it is enough to make his stomach turn again. 

Uriel pulls up the gates of the house and enters the code. The car is parked but Uriel doesn’t immediately get out. Hsi hands are still on the steering wheel and he’s looking forward. Dean grabs the handle ready to get inside and try to sleep. 

“I’m sure you won’t be put in that position often.” 

“What?” He turns to look at the man but doesn't let go of the handle. 

“That. The torture shit. I don’t think you’ll have to witness shit like that often.” 

“I signed up for this. I’ll have to get used to it at some point.” 

Uriel lets out a breath through his nose and shakes his head ever so slightly. The man gets out of the car without saying another word. 

~~~~~~ 

Dean didn’t get much sleep. Not only because he didn’t get home until after six in the morning. Considering that Michael never answered his text he thinks that he should talk to the oldest Novak. As he’s walking down the hall towards Michael’s office he can see that the door to it is open. He’s only a door away when Uriel’s voice comes out of the room. Dean stops, out of sight but within ear shot. It’s not right but knowing that doesn’t stop him. 

“Dean’s a good guy. He really cares about Castiel, more than any of the previous bodyguards you’ve had for him. He shouldn’t have been put in that position. Not yet.” 

“He knows what he agreed to when he texted me that he would stay. If he didn’t think that what happened was part of this world then maybe I should fire him, because then he must be dumber than I care to have around.” 

“Oh, cut the crap Michael. You know as well as I do that he’s not an idiot. Also he knows exactly what he signed up for. For fucks sake, Mike, he was not only ready to shoot someone to protect Castiel but he broke his wrist by breaking into a car to get him back. You baby Castiel by not even telling him everything that goes down in the business, but you think that the new guy can witness  _ Lucifer _ and  _ Gadreel _ torture someone to death? Not only a new guy but a new guy that you have an interest in. Maybe you’d actually be able to get into his pants if you showed any actual care towards him.” Uriel’s tone gets more harsh and hard with every word he says. 

Dean’s chest starts to hurt as he listens to Uriel. Not only did he not know that the man had that much emotion within him. He had no idea that Uriel liked him enough to care about him. 

“Completely out of line to talk about my sex life in any way. I must say I don’t appreciate it or your tone, Uriel. I think-” 

“I’m not here to have a discussion,” Uriel’s words cut through Michael’s deep voice, “ Lucifer shouldn’t have put Dean in that position. Period. You know it. I know it and Lucifer knows it. If you want this one to stick around maybe treat him like a person and not an object.” 

The sound of shoes walking across the hardwood floor of Michael’s office causes Dean to panic. He opens the door he is standing in front of and without thinking steps into it. Suddenly he is in a tiny linen closet. He hears Uriel walk past the closet, the only problem is he doesn’t know how long he should stay in the closet. 

He waits maybe about two minutes before exiting the closet. The door to Michael’s office is still open. He looks at the open doorway then down the hallway, the way he came. Quickly, he glances back to the open doorway. With a shrug and shake of his head he walks back down the hall. There’s no point in talking to Michael. He heard what he needed to. 

Dean makes his way to the kitchen to get the largest cup of coffee that he can. Entering the kitchen he is met with Castiel and Raphael. Cas looks up from the bowl of cereal he’s eating and his face lights up. He smiles. Then the kid looks over to Raphael and schools his expression. 

“Michael said you’re staying.” Cas says, watching as he walks to the counter and pours himself some lukewarm coffee. 

“Yeah I’m going to stay.” 

“Why?” Raphael’s voice drones. 

“Because I wanted to stay.” He responds with a shrug

The third Novak son grunts and stands up while rolling his eyes. Dean chooses to ignore Raphael and sits at the table. He downs half the cup and starts to feel somewhat normal. 

“Have you been eating cereal for breakfast the entire time that I’ve been gone?” 

“Yeah. I tried to make eggs one morning but they didn’t turn out like yours.” 

“Well I’ll make omelettes tomorrow morning for us.” 

Dean notices the smile that slips across Castiel’s face before the kid continues to eat his breakfast. He didn’t realize how much he missed being around the twerp until this moment. The Novak household might be full of moody people but Cas doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder like the rest. 

~~~~~~ 

Dean’s walks out of the laundry room carrying a basket of fresh laundry wehn Raphael comes out the shadows and is suddenly standing in front of him. 

“Why did you decide to stay?” 

“What the fuck is with all of you and lurking?” 

“Answer the question.” Raphael’s eyes are hard and narrowed as he stares at Dean from across the laundry basket that is keeping some distance between them. 

“I’m being serious. You all just come out of the shadows and lurk around corners. Is it a family trait? Does one have to start doing it if they work for you? Do I need to start practicing?” 

Raphael aggressively takes the basket from Dean and places it on the ground. “Why are you staying?” 

“Because I want to.” He tries to lean down to pick the basket back up but Raphael grabs his arm to stop him. 

“Stop bullshitting me.” 

“I’m not.” 

Dean stares at Raphael in confusion. Dark eyes, the color of burnt coffee, stare back at him. He throws his hands up not knowing what to say or what Raph wants from him. 

“There’s no good reason that you would want to stay here. In this life. In this madhouse. Not unless you wanted to get something out of it. So why are you staying?” 

“Because. I. Want. To.” in one quick movement he grabs the basket off the ground and maneuvers around Raphael. 

While heading upstairs he thinks about what Raphael said. Maybe he’s right. There isn’t any good reason to pick this life, but for him there isn’t any good reason to go back to his old life. So maybe at the end of the day that’s the only reason he has. Or maybe Raphael is trying to get inside his head because he doesn’t want him to stay. That’s probably it considering Raphael isn’t his biggest fan. Once he’s done putting away his clothes he heads to the house gym.Cas is getting his self defense lesson from Uriel. 

Uriel and Cas are sparring in the boxing ring. Which yes it’s crazy that a boxing ring is inside of a house. Gabe is sitting on a folding chair watching the lesson. He’s wearing a cropped pink shirt and floral swim trunks. 

“Dean-o,” Gabe smiles and stands up from his chair, “sit, sit.” 

“I can get another chair.” He motions to the side where the chairs are kept. 

“Oh no it’s fine. I insist you sit.” 

With a shrug he sits. Promptly Gabe plants himself on his lap. Dean should have known. He rolls his eyes but he doesn’t actually care. 

“I’m happy to hear that you’ve decided to stay.” 

“I think you and Cas are the only ones.” 

“Uriel likes you. Which isn’t an easy feat.” 

Dean lets out a small huff of a laugh. Gabe’s comfort of adding one person to the list of people that like him is appreciated but admittedly hilarious. He looks to the ring and watches as Cas gets one decent hit on Uriel. Gabe picks at the balck nail polish on his nails as a comfortable silence falls between them. He watches as Cas continuously leaves himself open. Uriel corrects his stance multiple times. It’s clear that Cas can throw a punch but other than that he has no idea how to fight. The kid goes for a hit and gets his legs kicked out from underneath him. He hits the mat hard to which Dean winces. Cas gets back up quickly and steadies himself. His face is serious as he stares down Uriel. 

“I’m sorry you had to watch Lucifer work.” Gabe says quietly. 

“It’s okay, Gabe.” He pats the man's thigh in an effort to reassure him that he’s fine. 

“It’s not. I can barely stomach the shit he does. I can’t believe you’re even in this house after what you saw. Uriel told me about it. You’re supposed to be a bodyguard not whatever the fuck that was.” 

“I’m okay, really. It’s not like I stayed for Lucifer.” 

The blonde turns so that he’s straddling Dean, his hazel eyes peeking out from his unruly curls. “Who did you stay for?” 

“Well, no one. I mean. I wanted to. Not one person made me. I didn’t just stay because of a single one of you.” Dean stammers and stumbles over his words, sounding like an idiot. 

“Right. That was very convincing.” Gabe rolls his eyes and turns back to face the ring. 

The conversation ends as they both watch Cas get his ass handed to him. Gabe pulls out a lollipop from his swim trunks. Dean semi watches the training session but part of his mind wanders elsewhere. He thinks about his interaction with Raphael and the conversation he overheard between Uriel and Michael this morning. He’s barely been back at the house and it already feels like so much has happened. 

~~~~~ 

Dean picks up the tennis ball that Sunflower drops at his feet and carries it as they continue their walk through the Novak property. He throws the ball after a few steps. The pitbull mix darts after it. Slowly, he continues to walk.    


“Hey.” Michael’s voice flows across the open lawn as he walks towards him. 

“Hey.” 

Michael starts walking next to him. Sunflower comes back with the ball. The oldest Novak says nothing as they continue to walk and Dean throws the ball. 

“Did you come out here for any particular reason?” 

“Yes, I in fact did.” 

“Are you going to tell me what the reason is or are we going to continue to walk in silence?” 

Michael sighs, “You don’t make things easy.” 

“Neither do you.” 

The blue eyed man nods and huffs out another sigh through his nose. “I am glad you decided to stay. You care about my family. The people that I care the most about and that is something that is important to me.” 

He nods and picks up the tennis ball that was dropped in front of him. “I don’t know what you want from me.” 

“What? I don’t want anything from you.” 

“That’s not true. There’s this weird thing between us and I don’t want to keep doing it. You kiss me but then call me an idiot and don’t even bother talking to me most of the time.” 

Michael stops walking. “I don’t do relationships. I told you that and made it clear that I don’t date.” 

“I’m not saying anything about dating. I’m saying being ignored by you and you thinking I’m stupid isn’t for me. Having a hookup thing is fine but I’m not a toy Michael.” 

“I know that.” 

“But do you?” Dean asks and holds his hands up. He flattens his lips together and with a shrug he turns around, throws the ball and walks away. 

Michael doesn’t follow him, which is probably for the better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait everyone. I'm hoping I won't have to make you guys wait this long again. Writers block I'm telling you it sucks. Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter also I know it's prob not the best at all but I hope you guys enjoy it still. Love you guys like I said I hope the next update will come in the usual time manner (I usually try to update every two weeks not every two months lol)  
> Love, Mess

**Author's Note:**

> Oh wow it feels so weird to be posting again. I'm kind of nervous, but mostly excited. I have big plans for this fic.


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